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60th Congress, I SENATE. (Document 

1st Session. ) \ No. 517. 



REPORT ON EMPLOYMENT OF UNITED STATES SOLDIERS IN AR- 
RESTING BY-A-LIL-LE AND OTHER NAVAJO INDIANS. 



LETTER 

FROM 

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 

TRANSMITTING 

A REPORT, IN RESPONSE TO A SENATE RESOLUTION OF APRIL 
26, 1908, WITH RESPECT TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF UNITED 
STATES SOLDIERS DURING THE YEAR 1907 WITHIN OR NEAR 
THE NAVAJO INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZ., IN ARRESTING 
BY-A-LIL-LE AND OTHER NAVAJO INDIANS, ETC. 



May 25, 1908. — Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be 

printed. 



Secretary's Office, 
W - Department of the Interior, 

Washington, D. C, May 22, 1908. 
Sir: By direction of the President, I have the honor to make report 
in response to the following resolution of the Senate, dated April 25, 
1908. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, directed to fur- 
nish for the iioformation of the Senate copies of all correspondence and other papers on 
file in his Department or in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs relating to 
employment of United States soldiers during the year nineteen hundred and seven 
within or in the vicinity of the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, in arresting 
By-a-lil-le and other Navajo Indians, which resulted in the killing by the soldiers or 
others of two Indians and the wounding of at least one other Indian, and such corre- 
spondence and other data, if any, as will furnish the names and the number of Navajo 
and other Indians who were imprisoned at any time within the three years last past, 
together with the names of those now imprisoned, in the Territories of New Mexico 
and Arizona, the charges against each of said Indians, by whom made, by what legally 
constituted court or other proceeding they were adjudged guilty of the charges against 
them, as a result of which the said Indians were imprisoned, the terms of their sen- 
tences, and whether at hard labor or otherwise. 

The facts relating to By-a-lil-le and certain other Navajos are as 
follows : 

Mr. Shelton, superintendent of the San Juan Indian School, New 
Mexico, reported March 29, 1907, that there was a probabihty of 
serious trouble arising among a settlement of Indians on a part of tlio 



9. -?»54&3 



'^z7Js 



2 ABRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

Navajo Indian Reservation some 40 miles northwest of his agency 
and on the south side of the San Juan River, the settlement being 
under the leadership of By-a-lil-le. The situation became so serious 
that a special agent (R. S. Connell) was sent to the settlement to 
make a careful investigation and report, which he did on April 6, 
1907. He reported that By-a-lil-le and his confederates were heavily 
armed; that they had made threats to kill the superintendent and 
his farmer; that they had depredated upon the stock of the whites 
bordering on the reservation, and done many things which were 
wrong and reprehensible. The special agent recommended that 
troops be sent there to disarm the Indians and that the 'Svorst medi- 
cine men be deported." 

The superintendent brought this matter to the attention of the 
Office again on September 18, 1907, recommended that at least two 
troops of cavalry be sent to that part of the Navajo Reservation where 
By-a-lil-le and his renegades gathered, and that he be arresed. 

I presented the matter to the Secretary of War on October 12, 1907, 
for an expression of his views as to the feasibility of stationing two 
troops of cavalry at Aneth, Utah, in the vicinity of this hostile band of 
Indians where the presence of the soldiers would be an object-lesson 
for them and prevent disturbance. 

The Acting Secretary of War directed the commanding general to 
cause two troops of cavalry from Fort Wingate, N. Mex., under an 
ofhcer of experience and good juilgment, to move northward to the 
region indicated. The object of the march was to show ill-disposed 
Indians that there were troops within call should they for any cause 
resort to violence. It was hoped that no serious trouble would arise. 

The soldiers were under the command of Captain Williard. He and 
his fellow-officers, after reaching the spot and observing the situation, 
decided that By-a-lil-le and his men should be arrested in order to 
avoid a serious conflict. Accordingly they made a night march upon 
him and surprised and captured him and his immediate followers 
about daybreak the next morning. While their arrest was being made 
the troops were fired upon by other Indians in the vicinity. The 
horse of Captain Williard 's first sergeant was shot. The troops were 
ordered to defend themselves and returned the fire, killing two Indians 
and wounding one, as it appears. By-a-lil-le and nine of his outlaws 
were arrested. One, Nick Lee, was allowed to return home after the 
other prisoners had been sent to Fort Huachuca, where they are now 
confined, except one, named Mele-yon, who has been allowed to return 
to the southern part of the Navajo Reservation under the jurisdiction 
of the superintendent in charge of the Navajo Agency at Fort Defiance, 
Ariz. 

Eight of the Navajo prisoners are still in prison, where they are to 
be confined for an indefinite period at hard labor. They can be released 
whenever it may be deemed wise to do so, each case to be considered 
on its own merits. The time for the release of these prisoners has 
been left to the judgment of the War Department. 

I attach copies of the following letters, which give the detail of these 
facts: ^j 

1. First report of Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
dated March 29, 1907. 

2. Report of Special Agent R. S. Connell to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
dated April 6, 1907. 



UN 3 19C8 

D. nt n. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 3 

3. Report of Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affaii-s, dated 
^^, September 18, 1907. 
pj 4. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, October 12, 1907. 

5. Letter from the Acting Secretary of Wat to the Secretary of the Interior, October 
15, 1907. 

6. Letter from the Acting Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Interior, October 
23, 1907. 

7. Telegram from Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
October 30, 1907. 

8. Report of Captain Williard to the Adjutant-General, October 30, 1907. 

9. Letter from Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
November 4, 1907. 

10. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, November 9, 
1907. 

11. Letter from the Acting Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Interior, Novem- 
ber 16, 1907. 

12. Report from Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
November 16, 1907. 

13. Report fi'om Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, No- 
vember 16, 1907. 

14. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, November 22, 
1907. 

15. Letter from the Acting Secretary of War to the Secretary of the Interior, Novem- 
ber 25, 1907. 

16. Letter from the chief clerk of the Indian Office to Superintendent Shelton, 
December 4, 1907. 

17 . Letter from the Acting Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, Decem- 
ber 14, 1907. 

18. Letter from the Assistant Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of War, 
February 1, 1908. 

19. Letter from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the superintendent 
Navajo Agency, Fort Defiance. February 5, 1908. 

20. I/etter from the superintendent Navajo Agency, Fort Defiance, to the Com- 
missioner of Indian Affairs, February 24,1908. 

21. Letter from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs to Superintendent 
Shelton, March 19, 1908. 

22. Letter from Superintendent Shelton to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
March 28, 1908. 

23. Letter from the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the superintendent 
of the Navajo Agency, April 8, 1908. 

24. Letter from Superintendent Harrison, Navajo Agency, Fort Defiance, to the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, May 7, 1908. 

I call particular attention to the reports of Superintendent Shelton 
of March 29, 1907, and Special Agent Connell of April 6, 1907, which 
show very clearly the character of these Inthans — that they were out- 
laws who had been committing atrocious crimes and were in danger 
of inciting other Indians to violence. The report of Captain WilHard, 
under date of October 30, is very explicit, and shows that he acted 
with sound judgment and that the troops under him took no action 
other than that which was proper and necessary. The letters from 
February 1 to March 28 show the care given the cases of individual 
prisoners when the question of their release is under consideration. 

After the arrest of these prisoners complaint was made by Rev. 
Howard R. Antes, a missionary stationed at the Navajo Agency, 
making serious charges against Superintendent Shelton and Captain 
Williard, alleging that the Indians were not outlaws, and that the kill- 
ing of some and the arrest of others was a gross outrage. By direc- 
tion of the President, Col. H. L. Scott, of the United States Army, an 
officer recognized for his thorough knowledge of Indian affairs and 
Indian life, was directed to make a most searching investigation of the 
case. Colonel Scott went to the agency, heard Reverend Mr. Antes 
and all witnesses he desired to present, and took the testimony of 



4 ABRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

various other persons. As a result, the charges were absolutely dis- 
proved, and Mr. Antes, who made the charges, gave the following 
written statement to Colonel Scott: 

At the close of an investigation at this place which you have conducted for the part 
two days, relative to the charges contained in certain letters addressed to Senates 
H. M. Teller during the past several months against Mr. W. T. Shelton, superintendent 
of the San Juan Indian School, and his fanner. J. M. Holley, and others both in and 
out of the Government service here and at "Washington. D. C, and Capt. H. O. Wil- 
liard, Fifth Cavalry, U. S. Army, and his troop, on the morning of October 28, 1907, 
when certain Navajo Indians were killed and others arrested, I have learned that the 
information upon which such charges were made was and is unreliable and untrue. 
Believing, therefore, that my charges were unwarrantable, I therefore retract them and 
extend an apology to everybody concerned. I do this of my own free will and accord, 
withoiit suggestion or pressure from anyone. 

Mr. Antes further sent to the editor of the Evening Post, the paper 
which had originally published the charges, a letter of which the 

follo\ving is a copy. 

Aneth, Utah, April 23, 1908. 
Editor of Denver Post: 

During the month of November. 1907. you published a letter signed by myself in 
which I made certain charges against AV. T. Shelton, superintendent of San Jxian 
Indian School, and his farmer. .1. M. Holley, and Captain Williard, of the United States 
Army, and his troop, relating to an occurrance on October 28, 1907, at Aneth, Utah, in 
which two Navajo Indians were killed and nine others arrested and imprisoned. I 
have now come to believe that the information upon which I based those charges was 
unreliable and untrue. Believing, therefore, that my charges were unwarrantable, I 
therefore retract them, and extend an apology to everybody concerned, with a request 
to you that you give this letter the same publicity that my former letter had. 
Very respectfully, yours, 

Howard R. Antes. 

It is not deemed necessary to transmit to the Senate the voluminous 
report of the testimony taken by Colonel Scott, for the action of Mr. 
Antes in thus withdrawing his charges and acknowledging them 
to have been untrue, shows the thoroughness and fairness of Colonel 
Scott's investigation. 

Within the three years last past there have been three groups of 
Navajo and other Indians imprisoned (1) the Chin Lee group, (2) the 
Oraibi group, and (3) the San Juan or By-a-lil-le group. 

Of the Chin Lee group seven Indians were arrested in December, 
1905, and taken to Alcatrez Island, in San Francisco Harbor; they 
were afterwards in the summer of 1 906 transferred to Fort Huachuca, 
Ariz. Their names are as follows: 

Denet Lakai 1 

C? hd ^^ [Sentenced for two years; hard labor. 

Do-Yal-Ke J 

Winslow 1 

Tsosa Begay [Sentenced for one year; hard labor. 

Ush Tilly J 

These have all been released and allowed to return to the Navajo 
reservation. 

The charges made by Superintendent Perry against these seven 
Indians were that they formed part of a gang of disreputable and 
vicious Navajoes who captured him and by threat forced liim to 
pardon one of their number who had committed rape; that one of 
them had resisted arrest; and that they were likely to make more 
trouble at a dance soon to be held. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 5 

The Commissioner reported the matter to the Department in his 
letter of Decemher 13, 1905, recommending that these Indians be 
taken by the mihtary authorities to Alcatraz Island and punished by 
confinement at hard labor. This recommendation was adopted by 
the Department. The whole matter is fully set forth in the Commis- 
sioners' report for 1906, pages 121 to 124, and report of 1907, pages 91 
and 92. There were no court proceedings. 

Of the Oraibi group 18 Indians of the following names were handled, 
in October, 1906, as follows: 



Ta-wa-hong-ni-wa, I Temporarily incarcerated, then released and banished 

Yu-ke-o-ma, j from the reservation. 

Lo-mi-es-ti-wa, 

Quo-ya-ho-es-ni-wa , 

Ta-lash-wong-e-ni-wa, 

Ta-lash-mong-e-wa. 

Kooch-ven-ti-wa, 

Ta-lang-ai-ni-wa. 

Na-qvia-lets-ti-wa, 

Ma-sa-hong-ie. 

Na-qua-wey-ma, 

Jas-wia, 

BHIMOPOVIS. 

Gosh-hong-wa. 
Pa-cush-ia. alias 

Pa-la- wis-si-o- ma , 
Lo-ma-wi-na, 
0-ma-na-qua 

( Se-cia-emp-ti-wa) , 
Bo-shi-ma 

( Lo-lo-ma-i-o-ma ) 
Yo-yo-wy-ti-wa. 

Seventy-three others (names not furnished the Office) were put at 
hard labor on the reservation roads for ninety days. 

Eleven were also arrested and confined at Fort Huachuca pending 
arrangements for their transfer to a nonreservation school. They 
chose Carlisle and were sent there as soon as arrangements could be 
^made in January, 1907. Their names are as follows: 



Imprisoned at hard labor for from one to three years. 



/Arrested, but not removed to the prison on account of his 
I infirmity. 



►Imprisoned at hard labor for from one to three years. 



Tay-ay-va. 

Kat-ka. 

Na-hong-a-va. 

Kooch-hoi-u-ma. 

Pon-ya-quap-ti-wa. 



SHIMOPOVIS. 

Jos-hong-a-wa or Jos-wy-ti wa. 
Ho-mi-quap-ti-wa. 
Homi-es-vi (Joshua). 
Te-wan-i-i-ma. 

Ta-la-emp-ti-wa (Washington). 
Ho-ma-leps-ti-wa (Archie). 



After the release and banishment of the two chiefs, Ta-wa-hong-ni- 
wa and Yu-ke-o-ma, and excluding Jas-wis, and the 11 transferred to 
Carlisle, 9 Hopis and 6 Shimopovis remained at Fort Huachuca. 
They have all now been released. 

The charges against these Indians are fully set forth in the Com- 
missioner's report for 1906, pages 124 to 131, and for 1907, pages 84 
to 91. The Commissioner himself was personally well acquainted 
with the situation, and this knowledge, together with the rejiorts of 



6 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 



•All at hard labor. 



Superintendants Murphy and Lemmon and Supervisor Perry, consti- 
tute the ''charges." The main offenses were defiance of the Govern- 
ment, internal dissensions and rioting, habitual trouble making, and 
obstruction of the education of the children. The two chiefs, together 
with 27 of the most conspicuous mischief-makers, including 12 Shi- 
mopovis, were placed under guard and taken to Keams Canon. There 
their cases were individually considered by the supervisor. Superin- 
tendent Lemmon, and the military authorities. There were no court 
proceedings. 

Of the San Juan group 10 Indians were arrested in the fall of 1907 
by the troops and brought toFortWingate to be sent to FortHuachuca 
Ariz. Their names are as follows : 

By-a-lil-le. 

Polly. 

Sis-co. 

Hosteen-et-so, an old man; was released at Wingate. 

By-a-lil-le-be-tah, sr. 

At-city. 

Bis-cla-e. 

Tha-el-chee-nah-ki-be-ga. 

Cli z-e-slon-be-ga . 

Mele-yon. 

One of these, named Nick Lee (presumably the English name of 
Hosteen-et-so, but the record does not state), was released and sent 
home before reaching Fort Huachuca. Another, Mele-yon, has 
since been released and sent to the southern part of the Navajo 
Indian Reservation, under the jurisdiction of the superintendent 
of the Navajo Agency. Eight, as checked on the above list, are now 
imprisoned at Fort Huachuca. 

The charges, made by Superintendent Shelton and Special Agent 
Connell, included general lawlessness and hostility toward the Gov- 
ernment, intimidation of other Indians who were trying to work, 
rape, depredations on property, and specific threats to kill Superin- 
tendent Shelton, of the San Juan Indian School, and one of his farmers. 

These Indians were adjudged guilty by the Office and the Depart- 
ment and are to be confined for an indefinite period at hard labor. 
There were no court proceedings. They are to be released whenever 
it may be deemed wise by the War Department to do so. Each case 
will be considered on its own merits, and in accordance with the con- 
duct of the prisoner during confinement and his promise of good 
behavior after his return home. 

As will be seen from the above report, the Indians therein referred 
to were arrested because they were disturbing the peace of the com- 
munities, and the action of this Department and the War Depart- 
ment in dealing with such cases is in accordance with long-established 
usage and has been show^n to be the only effective method of sup- 
pressing lawlessness and the commission of acts of violence by 
Indians of the character reported upon. 
Respectfully, 

James Rudolph Garfield, 

Secretary. 

The President of the Senate, 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 7 

San Juan School, 
SMprock, N. Mex., March 29, 1907. 

Sir: I have the honor to report to your Office that there is a possibility of serious 
trouble arising on a certain part of this reservation. 

There is a settlement of Indians, some 40 miles northwest of this agency on the 
south side of the San Juan River in Utah, who are under the leadership and influ- 
ence of an Indian by the name of By-a-lil-le. This man's influence has been bad 
all along, but I and the farmer, who is located in that country, have hoped to be able 
to overcome his influence and to gain his confidence and to get him to exert his ener- 
gies for the good, but so far have been unable to do this. 

Mr. James M. Holley, the farmer located at Aneth, Utah, is a conservative, level- 
headed man, and he has the confidence and respect of all of the better class of 
Indians, and until recently he has been able to get along fairly well with this man 
By-a-lil-le and his clan. 

We have discouraged the Indians from selling their breeding sheep to unscnipulous 
traders and have advised them to hold their young she sheep and build up their 
flocks, and when they had a surplus of sheep to sell they should sell their old ewes 
and wethers. The Indians on all other parts of the reservation and the better class of 
Indians in this section have appreciated this advice and have profited by it. 

This man By-a-lil-le became very angry because the farmer advised the Indians in 
this matter; he and his followers went to the trader, who lives off the reservation and 
in Colorado, and this trader advised them to do as they pleased; that this was a free 
country, and that neither the Government nor the Government's agents had anything 
to do with them or their sheep. The Indians claim that the trader told them that 
Mr. Holley (the additional farmer) nor I had any communication with Washington, 
and that oiir letters and reports did not get any farther than Durango. In this, of 
course, the trader is to blame, as the Indians are very ignorant and are glad to take 
advantage of anj^hing that he might say that would increase their discontentedness. 

We have endeavored to break up a number of the most vicious of the Indian customs — 
that of rape, which has been very common on this reservation; the custom of a man 
taking a widow for a wife who has one or more young daughters, and as they become 
12 or 13 years old taking them for a second or third wife ; selling their girls, for horses 
and sheep, to old men for their second and third wives. In all these matters we have 
been very cautious and have tried to explain clearly where these things were wrong, 
and. with the exception of the most ignorant and backward Indians in these isolated 
portions of the reservation, we have been able to overcome a great many of these evils. 
The Indians in the settlement referred to, another settlement south of Bluff City, 
Utah, and another in the Black Mountain section refused to take any adA^ce or to make 
any change in their customs. They are now finding fault with the Indians who are 
trying to improve their conditions, and by threats and intimidation are trying to enlist 
their support in defying the Government or any of its influences. They have pur- 
chased anus and ammunition and are threatening to kill the farmer, myself, the police- 
men, or anyone else that interferes with them in any way. 

These Indians heard a few days ago that some of the head men from other sections 
were to be at the farmer's station to solicit children for thescliool; they immediately 
armed themselves heavily and went to the farmer's station, expecting to have a 
fight, and said they would all fight before they would let any of their children go to 
school. Up to that time no one had canvassed their section for children and had 
said nothing to them about school. In the settlement near the farmer's place, 14 
children were ready to come to this school when it was open for pupils, and through 
the influence of By-a-lil-le and his followers all but 4 of these children left the settle- 
ment before the time set to start for the school and did not come. One of my police- 
men was in this section and heard that these Indians were in an ugly mood, and he 
went to their camp and tried to reason with them; he told them that they were 
opposing the best friend they had; that the Government was protecting then- interests, 
and that they should not rebel without good cause. The policeman says that instead 
of listening to his advice, that they treated him very disrespectfully and that they 
became very angiy and told him that they did not want anjlhing to do with the Gov- 
ernment; that they were going to do as they pleased. In order to avoid any serious 
clash with these Indians. I sent for one of the most influential Indians on the reserva- 
tion, a man known as the Sand Painter, and he has heretofore had the confidence of 
the Indians here referred to, and I had a long talk with him and explained to him the 
foolishness of these people in taking the stand they have and I requested him to go 
down and try and explain to them that they were wrong. He went and talked and 
plead with them for one day and night without results; they told him they were not 



8 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

taking the ad\dce of anyone; that the "agent, the head men, and the Government had 
better not stick their noses in." He states that there are 15 bad men in this set- 
tlernent and that they had 50 more who would stand by them. The Sand Painter 
advised me not to go down to that place, saving that if I did I would certainly be 
killed. These troublesome Indians belong to the same elan as those who had trouble 
with Superintendent Perry at Chin Lee. 

I have talked with Indians in this section and those living in the Carriso Mountains, 
and they all said that the Government should take a hold of this man By-a-lil-le and 
his followers and teach them that they are living in a law-abiding country. Some of 
the better class of Indians living near By-a-lil-le 's settlement have requested the 
farmer to secure arms for them, sajdng that they would deal with these Indians if the 
Government would furnish them with arms and ammunition. I merely mention this 
to show the feeling that exists between the two classes, the progressive and the unpro- 
gressive. I have always felt, since taking charge of this reservation, that something 
more than kind talk and persuasion would have to be used with the people in the 
section referred to, and I have tried in every way possible to avoid a clash or any 
thing that would annoy your Office or cause friction of any kind. 

This man By-a-lil-le is a medicine man and is known as the "Rainmaker;" the 
Indians believe that he can make it rain at will, and he has been making them believe 
that he is keeping rain from coming because so many of them are listening to the 
Government's advice and trying to pattern after the white people. When these 
arguments fail to have the desired effect, he threatens to kill those who oppose him 
and his followers, and by threats and coercion he has enlisted a number on his side 
who are not in sympathy with his movements. 

In asking the policeman and other Indians what fault he had to hnd with me and 
the G(neniment, he stated that I advised the Indians to not sell their sheep; that I 
had scolded them for raping young girls: that I had objected to their selling young 
girls to old men for wives; that I would not allow men to marry two or three wives. 
He is particularly angry because I had arrested and brought to the agency a demented 
Piute Indian. 

In a personal communication addressed to you at Santa Ve, N. Mex., on the 5th of 
last June, I referred to a large num))er oi Indians, mostly renegade Navajos, Utes, 
and Piutes, located between the San Juan and Colorado rivers, all the way from Bluff 
City, Utah, to the junction of these risers; that these Indians, together with a large 
number of Navajo Indians north of the Moqui Pveser^ation line, and even east of the 
section named, get but very little attention from any source and are practically run- 
ning \v-ild and without restraint. 

While these Indians that are causing the disturl)ance now are not the identical 
Indians referred to in my letter, they belong to the same clan or class of Indians, and 
are all in sympathy with each other and are strictly opposed to any interference from 
any source. 

It would be unwise and foolish for rae to send my police force, numbering eight men, 
into this section to undertake to straighten these people out. Even if they had the 
nerve and courage to go, they would be shot to pieces before they would have time 
to make any showing. 

The Piutes referred to have never had an agent and have never been under any 
supervision; they live on the western border of this reservation, and will join with the 
lower classes of Navajos in committing depredations and in making any trouble that is 
started. 

I am going to start to-morrow morning on a trip through this section referred to, in 
order to investigate thoroughly the conditions there and, if possible, adjust matters to 
the satisfaction of all concerned. 

Special Agent Council arrived here yesterday, and I have requested him to take 
this trip with me, and he has consented to do so. I make this report before starting in 
order to inform your Office of the situation as I see it from here; that in case any 
trouble arises on the trip, you may know that I did not go into it hastily and rashly. 

While Inspector McLaughlin was here on special business Farmer Holley was at the 
school and mentioned something of the trouble that was brewing at that time; but 
the inspector, being on special business, had not the time to go to the vicinity and did 
not get the details of this matter. I was hoping at the same time to be able to overcome 
the trouble that then existed, but which, I am sorry to say, is no better and is even 
getting worse, and I regret to say that some steps must be taken without delay to 
settle it. 

Very respectfully, Wm. T. Shelton, 

Superintendent and Special Dishvrsing Agent. 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 9 

San Juan School, 
Shiprock. N. Mex., Aprils, 1907. 

Sir: I have the honor to request your Office to refer to Superintendent Shelton's 
letter of March 29. 1907. in which he states that By-lil-le and his hand are hostile, 
threatening to kill him and his farmer, etc. 

Upon careful inquiry among many of the different bands of Indians and a trip 
through this section. I found what Superintendent Shelton says is true. 

This man By-lil-le has. with a heavily anned band of over 30 bucks, gone to the 
Indians in the outlying districts and threatened to extenuinate them if they sent any 
children to school or took up the white man's ways: the more ignorant he has threat- 
ened with his power as a big medicine man to bring all kinds of disaster upon 
them. He repeatedly told the Indians in public talks that he would kill Superin- 
tendent Shelton or any other white man that dared to apprcjach him. and that if the 
soldiers came he would have the lightning strike them dead. 

Superintendent Shelton and I decided that the best way to keep By-lil-le's power 
from spreading was to call his bluff, so we went, without any police or escort, right 
down into his stronghold and met him and his band of 36 warriors. Superintendent 
Shelton was most tactful in his talk, showing the Indians that he was their friend; 
fortunately Mr. Shelton and the agency doct(5r had at one time cured the mother of one 
of By-lil-le's warriors, who had a boil on her neck, and who was under By-lil-le's treat- 
ment until she got maggots into her head and face and was a terrible si^ht even to the In- 
dians. This Indian was the first to take our side, and Shelton, recognizing another Indian 
whom he had helped, got them over and called all the Indians' attention to the improve- 
ments on the roads, etc., etc., that he had made. Working along this line we got the 
band divided, and finally By-lil-le had only three left on his side, and then I went after 
By-lil-le rough ; told him he was sick in the head and proved it to the other Indians. 
The sweat just rolled off his face, and I thought possibly he would try a gun play, but he 
stood the truth as long as he could and then he went off with only two friends following 
him and the rest of the Indians giving him the laugh: then we had a horse race, and the 
Indians left with a different feeling toward the Government and the Government's 
otficials. 

By-lil-le's power is gone for the present at least, for Indians despise a leader who doea 
not make his threats good; but By-lil-le and his type are a dangerous lot, if they can 
get a following. He is on the edge of the worst district of broncho Indians in the South- 
west. There is a bunch of between (iOO and 800 Indians in the wilds of the Black Moun- 
tains, that are the original l^and and its offspring that the soldiers coidd not captiu'e the 
time they took the Navahos to Fort Sumner. These Indians never have and say they 
never will recognize any Government control. Agent Hazelet sent word that he 
wanted to go up into the Black Mountains and have a friendly council with them. He 
was met on the edge of their country by warriors and told to go back, that if he came 
further he would be ambushed, and he knew them well enough to realize they would 
do it, so he gave up his trip. The progiessi\e friendly Navahos are afraid to go into 
this section. 

There are about 100 Piutes and renegades back in the breaks of the San Juan and 
Colorado rivers. There are probalily another hundred renegade Utes in that section, 
and all the Navahos who commit crimes or who can not endure the restraints of civiliza- 
tion go back and join these outlaws. 

Probably as long as the Government is slack with these Indians and it does not 
interfere with their raping, stealing, and depredations upon the friendly Indians 
there will be no open hostilities. The good Navajos and the Mormons are the ones who 
are suffering from these renegades and outlaws. These Indians live off of depredations 
committed on the Mormons' and better Indians' stock, who are afraid to resist them. 
Even in the Mormon towns they take their insults. As an illustration. I .saw, in the 
town of Bluff, in the cooperative Mormon trading store, twelve Piutes come into the 
store; one deliberately shot an arrow down into the middle of the floor; all had pistols, 
belts, and cartridges upon them, and rifles on their saddles. One fellow amused the 
others by hacking the store counter with a big knife and the st.or(>ke('per was afraid 
to object. The Mormons say that it is easier to feed them and tolerate them than to 
fight them. I do not care about th(^ Mormons, but the trouble is that thi.s kind of a 
thing will grow; renegades and lawless Indians all over the Southwest will drift into 
such a section and join the outlaws. 

The country is ideal for renegade Indians to operate in. It is the roughest country 
the devil ever made; all broken up by fissures, canyons, and precipices; a country 
honeycombed with caves in whose depths there are often living springs; a country 
where ledges protrtide over the trails, giving th(> followed a chance to extt'rminate 
their followers. Why. a dozen cow punchers, with chuck enough cached out and 
cartridges enough, could whip the wiiole United States Army down there, and these 
renegades are not very slow in a fight thems<»lves. 



10 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS, 

The Navajos, Piutes, and Apaches are of a different nature than the Pneblos and 
Buch Indians as the Moquis. When a Chihuahua bull gets stubborn and will not come 
the way you want him to, look out. for if you are not on a quick cow pony both you 
and the pony are liable to come to sudden grief; but, if a shorthorn bull gets stubborn 
he sulks and stands his ground. There is just as much difference between the above 
breeds of Indians as between the above breeds of cattle. The Navajo or Apache is a 
fighter; the Moqui a good-natured, polite, but stubborn burro. I merely mention 
this because you have got to fight one from the start and keep fighting to the finish to 
get him where he should be, where you can not arouse the other to fight; he will just 
balk until you throw him and drag him to where he should be. 

If these renegades could be disarmed and their children compelled to go to school, 
it would be no more than what should be done for theu- children, the settlers, and the 
neighboring good Indians. 

It would not be possible to put all of their children in school at once, as the Govern- 
ment has not the school capacity; but all between 10 and 15 years old should be sent 
before they become too old to learn. Of course they would hide the children and their 
arms if the soldiers should round them up, but several campaigns would get most of 
them. Also the head medicine men and the most lawless leaders should be sent off 
for several years where they would have to learn what work was. 

I realize how difficult it would be for the Office to carry out such a recommendation. 

First. A lot of eastern people would commence to kick about the noble red men 
being abused. I wonder why the East did not appreciate it at the time of the Chicago 
anarchist trouble; the fact that these Indians did not get up a white man's protective 
society and send a representative, as an agent of the white man's rights association, 
on to butt into the eastern people's business. \\'hen will the East get over the erro- 
neous idea that all red men are noble? There are red liars, red tramps, red thieves, 
red h>7)ocrites, and red anarchists, just the same as white ones; but that does not 
mean that there are not just as big a per cent of good Indians as there are white people; 
in fact, not near as large a per cent of white people would be law-abiding where a city 
under as little restraint of law and punishment for disobedience of law as are these 
southwestern Indians. A good old New Englander will get righteously indignant 
because a bad Indian is taken away from his reservation where he is spoiling other 
Indians, and then go right out and pick a rotten apple out of a barrel to keep it 
from spoiling the rest. A conscientious New Yorker will talk compulsory education 
for New York and at the same time think the Moqui is ill-treated because the Gov- 
ernment is trying to give the Moqui child a white child's show. A Chicagoan is in 
for hanging the anarchists, but he would be wrathy were an Indian Commissioner to 
suggest the Indian anarchist; the murderer of not hardy police, but helpless sick 
women and children; the Indian medicine man should be deported. The bad Indian 
is given more than a white man's show, and consequently the good Indian not a 
white man's show. The medicine man and the lawless Indians who live off the 
superstitions of the ignorant or the helplessness of the unprotected, should be deported 
from all these southwestern reservations and put where they would have to work. 

This would cause much campaigning of the Army. Army officers would naturally 
try to side step this kind of Avoi-k. for Indian campaigns are no longer attractive to 
the soldier; there is not the chance of a glorious fight against odds, by which they 
would gain fame and promotion. It is now more of a long drawn out campaign of 
irksome police, rather than soldier duty; not a battle, but an arrest. Yet the War 
Department should do this kind of work, for it would not pay the Interior Depart- 
ment to keep up sufficient police for such work. Besides the Indians were taught 
to fear the soldier, by such generals as Crook, and that fear enables the Army to do 
such work much easier than civilians or Indian police. 

I would respectfully recommend that as soon as practicable troops be ordered to 
disarm all Indians who have guns without license to have same; that the worst medi- 
cine men be deported, and that children of renegade Indians, a number not to exceed 
the capacity of Government schools, in a climate similar to the climate in which the 
children are accustomed, be sent to school, preference being given to children between 
10 and 16 years old. or 14-year-old limit, if girls. 

Very re'fp?ctfully, ' R. S. Connell, 

Special Indian Agent. 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



San Juan School, 
Shiprock, N. Mex.. September 18, 1907. 
Sir: I have the honor to refer you to my report of March 29, in which I said that 
there was a proVjability of serious trouble arising on a certain part of this reservation. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 11 

I stated that there was a settlement of Indians some 40 miles north-west of this agency 
on the south side of the San Juan River, in Utah, who are under the leadership and 
influence of an Indian by the name of By-a-lil-le. I referred to this man stirring up 
t rouble and causing discontent among other Indians, and stated that they had purchased 
arms and ammunition, and were threatening to kill the farmer, myself, and the police- 
man, or anyone else that tried to interfere with them in any way. I stated that I was 
going to start on a trip to the section referred to in order to investigate thoroughly the 
conditions there, and if possible to adjust matters to the satisfaction of all concerned; 
that Special Agent Connell was here, and had consented to take this trip with me. We 
made the trip, and on our return the special agent made a report to your office relative 
to this matter. I would recjuest that you read his report in connection with this com- 
mimication. 

I have delayed reporting on this trip in order to see what might develop after our 
visit. After some difficulty we had an interview with By-a-lil-le and his followers 
which was at that time fairly satisfactory. As I expected, the Indians met us without 
arms and were friendly in their conversation; at the same time, with my limited 
knowledge of the Indian language, I could tell that the more conservative men in the 
crowd were urging By-a-lil-le and his lieutenants to say nothing that would lead me to 
believe that they were not friendly. Before the meeting was over By-a-lil-le with a 
few others left unceremoniously, while the majority of the crowd remained and par- 
ticipated in a horse race. I felt at the time of leaving this section that my talk with 
the Indians had not had the desired effect. 

Soon after my return home a number of the better class of Indians from different 
parts of the reservation informed me that By-a-lil-le'was still stiiTing up and causing all 
of the discontent possible. I induced a number of the most influential Indians to go 
to By-a-lil-le's home and have a friendly talk with him and try to induce him to give 
up the idea of being an outlaw and leader of bad men. This conference was unsuc- 
cessful. The visiting Indians claim that it was some time before By-a-lil-le could be 
induced to come out of the brush and talk with them. He proposed that they have 
a fight, saying that he was mad and so were his friends. He and the other Indians 
were heavily armed. The visitors showed them that they were not armed and 
assured them that they were not there to fight, that they had come as friends and 
wanted to have a friendly talk and adjust any differences that might exist between 
them and others. Finally, when By-a-lil-le consented to go to his house to talk to 
the visitors his followers remained on the outside and in the brusli discharging fire- 
arms, which the visitors claim was to intimidate them. 

The Indians attempting to make peace as well as the other progressive Indians 
insist that there is no use in trying in a mild way to get these Indians to behave them- 
selves. They have repeatedly requested me to ask you to send soldiers into that 
locality to show these renegades that the United States Government is able and willing 
to protect the Indians who are trying to make an honest living and trying to be self- 
supporting and law-abiding citizens. 

It has been my intention and I have exerted my best efforts to prevent any annoy- 
ancejto you or to your office with this matter, as well as other trouble on the reservation, 
but circumstances are such that I fear to wait longer will result in serious trouble. 

Some two weeks ago a prominent Indian named Do-hi-e died after a short illness; 
before dying he told his friends that By-a-lil-le was a witch and had killed him by 
shooting hidden darts into his body. Now Do-hi-e's friends insist that By-a-lil-le must 
be killed or taken out of the country. I have advised them that to kill him would 
only get them into trouble, and requested them to take no action initil I could lay 
the matter before yovi. 

I will inclose herewith a communication from M. R. Butler, an Indian trader, who 
lives 8 miles from By-a-lil-le's camp. Mr. Butler's letter explains itself. This has 
been the attitude of these Indians right along. 

The additional farmer located at Aneth, IHah, has informed me that this man has 
refused to have his sheep dipped, and the farmer says that it is impossible to induce 
him to dip them. He is the only Indian on the reservation owning sheep that has 
refused to have them dipped. I simply mention the matter of sheep dipping to 
show you his attitude toward progress. 

He has always exerted his energy and influence for bad and has caused trouble 
in his community since he was old enough. Years ago he got so mean that the Indians 
tied him up and was going to kill him, when he promised to leave the couiitry and 
never return, but he did return and has made trouble ever since. The time has 
come when steps must be taken to relieve this reservation of such influence. 

It is impossible for me to get a police force together that would go down and arrest 
this man, and if I had him an-ested I would not be able to hold him long enough to 
have the desired effect. I have not been able to induce an Indian west of the Four 



12 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

Corners to take a position as policeman on account of their fear of this Indian and hia 
influence. 

I would respectfully recommend that you cause at least two troops of cavalry to 
be sent to this part of the reservation and that By-a-lil-le be arrested and contined 
long enough to show him and other such Indians that the time for bad men in this 
country is past. If this is deemed unwise, I would recommend that the troops be 
stationed in the vicinity of By-a-lil-le's camp long enough to give the Indian police 
confidence in themselves and show them that they have the protection of the Govern- 
ment in doing their duty. Either action will meet the approval of the Indians as a 
whole, but in my opinion By-a-lil-le should be removed from the reservation, and I 
am sure the Indians would prefer this. 

It wovild be an easy matter to move troops from Fort Wingate to Aneth, Utah. 
The roads across the reservation are excellent. The distance is about 150 miles. 
Hay can be delivered at Aneth for $15 per ton or less, and grain for $2.25 per hundred 
or less. The appearance of troops along the lower San Juan River would have a 
good effect on the Indians living farther west on the reservation. While there has 
been no trouble in tl^at section to speak of, there has been an undercurrent of uneasi- 
ness from time to time that suggests trouble. 

I trust that you will not gather from this communication that this reservation is 
in an uproar. It was never in better shape. The Indians have raised good crops 
this year, their stock are all fat, blankets and wool have brought good prices, and, 
aside from those referred to in this letter, they are happy and contented. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. Shelton, 
Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



Aneth, Utah, September I4, 1907. 
Dear Sir: You requested me when you was down here to let you know if there 
was any stir with the Indians, or to let Mr. Holley know, as he is up your way. I 
will send a note to you. I don't know just what it is, but there is quite a stir in the 
Byiniey gang again. Bylilley was here yesterday and done quite a lot of talk. Said 
the Indians were all talking guns and that he was mad, and his Indians were all 
wanting guns and cartridges; and all the Indians around yesterday evening and 
this morning are talking about something they don't seem to want me to know, but 
I catch the word Bylilley quite often as I pass where they are. It may just be 
amongst the Indians, but thought as I had a chance would let you know. 
Yours, very truly, 

R. M. Butler. 
W. T. Shelton, 

Shiprock, N. Mex. 



Department of the Interior, 

Washington. October 12, 1907 . 
_ Sir: I inclose copies of two letters, dated March 29 and September 18, 1907, respec- 
tively, addressed to the Commissioner of Indian x\ffairs by the superintendent of the 
San Juan Indian School, Ariz., and a copy of one dated April 6 last, addressed to the 
Commissioner by R. S. Connell, special Indian agent, in regard to the hostility of a 
band of Indians occupying the northern part of the Navajo Indian Reservation situ- 
ated in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. 

They are under the leadership and influence of an Indian named By-a-lil-le, who, 
it appears, is constantly stirring up trouble and causing discontent among othex 
Indians, and have purchased arms and ammunition and threatened to kill the police- 
men, the farmer, the superintendent of the San Juan School, and anyone else who 
may try to interfere with them. 

The peaceable and progressive Indians insist that there is no use in trying in a 
mild way to ^et these renegades to behave themselves, and ask that soldiers be sent 
into that locality to show the latter that the United States Government is able and . 
willing to protect the people who are trying to make an honest li\ing and become 
self-supporting and law-abiding citizens. 

The superintendent says that it is impossible for him to get a police force together 
to put down and arrest this man; and that if he had him arrested he would not be 
able to hold him long enough to have the desired effect. 



AURESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 13 

He recommends that at least two troops of cavalry be sent to the northern part of 
the reservation and that By-a-lil-le be arrested and confined long enough to show him 
and other such Indians that the time for bad men in that country is past; or, if this is 
deemed imwise, that the troops be stationed in the vicinity of his (By-a-lil-le's) camp 
long enough to give the Indian police confidence in themselves and show them that 
they have the protection of the Government in doing their duty. He expresses the 
opinion that either action will meet the approval of the Indians as a whole. 

According to his letter of September 18, it would be an easy matter to move troops 
from Fort Wingate, N. Mex., to Aneth, Utah, the roads of the reservation being excel- 
lent and the distance about 150 miles. Hay can be delivered at Aneth for $15 per 
ton or less, and grain for $2.25 per hundred or less. He thinks that the appearance of 
the troops along the lower San Juan River would have a good effect on the Indians 
living farther west on the reservation, and says that while there has been no trouble in 
that section to speak of, there has been an undercurrent of uneasiness from time to 
time. 

This matter is brought to your attention for an expression of yoiu- views as to the 
feasibility of stationing temporarily two troops of cavalry at Aneth, Utah, which ap- 
pears to be accessible, and where hay and grain can be purchased at reasonable prices. 
This place is in the vicinity of this hostile band of Indians, and the presence of the 
soldiers would, in my judgment, be an object lesson for them and inspire the restless 
spirits among them with a sense of awe. 

Unless an adequate show of military force is made somewhere within a reasonable 
distance of these lawless Indians, we may later confront a difficult problem, and one 
that may involve bloodshed and other disastrous consequences before it is solved. 
There is evidently some alarm on the part of the superintendent and his force, which 
it seems is not altogether ill-founded, and it has occurred to me that it might be good 
policy to have a military force encamped for a time at or near Aneth (Utah), or some- 
where in the neighborhood where the sight of the soldiers would have a restraining 
effect upon the Indians and force them to conclude that it would be useless to con- 
tinue to resist the Government in its efforts to teach them the ways of civilization and 
improve their condition. 

I therefore present the subject for your consideration and views as to the detailing 
of two troops of cavalry for the purposes indicated. 
Very respectfully, 

James Rudolph Garfield, 

Secretary. 

The Secretary of War. 



War Department, 

Washinfiton, October 15, 1907. 
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, 
inclosing copies of two letters, dated March 29 and September 18, 1907, respectively, 
addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by the superintendent of the San 
Juan Indian School, Ariz., and a copy of one dated April 6, last, addressed to the Com- 
missioner by R. S. Connell, special Indian agent, in regard to the hostility of a band 
of Indians occupying the northern part of the Navajo Indian Reservation, situated in 
Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and in response thereto to hand you herewith for 
your information copy of a letter of instructions of this date to the commanding general, 
Department of the Colorado, Denv^^r. Colo., on the subject. 
Very respectfully, 

F. C. AiNSWORTH, 

The Adjvtant-deneral, Acting Secretary of War. 
The Secretary of the Interior. 



War Department, 
The Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, October 15, 1907. 
Sir: Acting upon reports received by him from his subordinates on the Navajo 
Indian Reservation in northern Arizona and Utah, the Secretary of the Interior has 
requested the presence of troops on the San Juan River, in southern Utah, in the vicinity 
of Aneth. It has been stated that there are some unruly Indians, under a leader called 
By-a-lil-le, who have caused uneasiness among the well-disposed Indians, as well as 
among the whites, by threats and the assumption of a bellicose attitude. 



14 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

The acting Secretary of War, therefore, directs that you cause two troops of cavab-y 
from Fort Wingate, N. Mex., under an officer of experience and good judgment, to 
march northward to the region indicated, ostensibly upon a practice march. The 
object of the march is to show the ill-disposed Indians that there are troops within 
call should they, for any cause, resort to violence. While no serious trouble is expected, 
the force should be well supplied with ball cartridges and be so provided with bag- 
gage as to enable them to prolong the stay in the vicinity of Aneth should that become 
necessary. The officer in command of the troops, on arriving in that neighborhood, 
should inquire into conditions and inform you promptly of the situation and as to 
whether or not, in his judgment, any prolonged stay of the troops is necessary. Upon 
receipt of this report, please inform the Department of its substance, adding your own 
recommendations upon this point of retaining troops longer in the region named. 
The movement of troops directed herein should be begun at once. 
Very respectfully, 

Henry P. McCain, 

Adjutant-General. 
The Commanding (teneral. Department op the Colorado, 

Denver, Colorado. 



War Department, 

Washington. October 2S, 1907. 
Sir: In further response to your letter of the 12th instant, suggesting the sending 
of troops to the vicinity of Aneth, Utah, owing to the hostile attitude of certain Indiana 
occupying the northern part of the Navajo Indian Reservation, I have the honor to 
hand you herewith for your information a copy of a telegram, dated the 22d instant, 
from the commanding general. Department of the Colorado, on the subject. 
Very respectfully. 

Robert Shaw Oliver, 

Acting Secretary of War. 
The Secretary of the Interior. 



.Denver, Colo., October 22, 1907. 
Troops I and K. Fifth Cavalry, 4 officers and 74 men, 1 officer and 2 men Medical 
Department. 3 Indian scouts. Capt. H. O. Willard, commanding, left Fort Wingate 
8 a. m., this date, for Aneth, Utah. 

Hirst, 
Chief of Sta/T, Absence Department CommaTider. 

The Adjutant-General of the Army. 

Washington, D. C. 



In the Field, Shiprock, N. Mex., October 30, 1907. 

Sir: Pursuant to instructions from your office. I have the honor to report the follow- 
ing as having occurred since the date of my letter to you of October 26: 

Taking six days' rations and leaving all baggage here possiljle, my command left 
Shiprock the morning of October 27, for Four Corners, Utah, en route to Aneth, Utah. 
I estimate Four Corners as being 32 miles from here by wagon road. Superintendent 
Shelton, Indian agent of the northern half of the Navahos accompanied the command 
to Four Corners, together with all the Indian police and prominent friendly Indians 
he could muster. The superintendent arrived at Four Corners about an hour before 
myself, and upon arrival there found Sis-co, one of By-lil-le's men, there at the trading 
post and held him there until my arrival, telling him his interpreter was coming in a 
short time and he wanted to talk to him, Sisco — which statement was correct, inasmuch 
as the interpreter was with my orderly and myself, we having moved ahead of the 
column several miles. Upon arrival at Four Corners I placed Sis-co under arrest, and 
also detained all Indians entering Four Corners after our arrival for fear of them carrying 
information to By-lil-le of the arrival of troops at Four Corners, it having been decided 
best not to inform By-lil-le at all of the approach of the troops. The Indians detained 
were held under guard until 11 a. m. October 28, when they were permitted to go (in 
accordance with my orders), with the exception of Sis-co, who was held a prisoner. 
Superintendent Shelton left Four Corners after his lunch and with his interpreter pro- 
ceeded to Aneth, Utah, about 20 miles distant, with the purpose of trying to locate 
By-lil-le and of sending me word by Indian runner. The police and one good inter- 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 15 

preter remained with my command. The troops arrived at Four Corners al)Out 3.30 
p. m., and, after some conversation with Mr. Charles Fritz, Indian trader at Four 
Corners, relative to By-lil-le and Polly, his right-hand man, and their craftiness and 
cunning, as well as a careful discussion of the situation witli my officers, it was decided 
that the only opportunity afforded of capturing By-lil-le and his men. as well as to 
avoid any serious conflict, lay in making a night march upon him and, trusting that he 
had no information whatsoever of the conunand, surprise and capture him and his 
immediate followers al)out daybreak the next morning. 

Superintendent Shelton had informed me that he would reach Aneth about dark, 
and if he could learn the whereabouts of By-lil-le and his men, he would inform me 
by runner at once, and this man should reach my camp at Four Corners by midnight. 
If, however, I heard nothing, it would signify that I was to follow on, as there would 
be nothing to report and I would have to be guided by circumstances. Having ascer- 
tained from the prominent friendly Indians who arrived at Four Corners subsequently 
that By-lil-le, Polly, and their men were on the south side of the San Juan River 
near MoElmo Canyon, about 4 miles east of Aneth, 1 determined to wait until 1.30 
next morning, and if I heard nothing in the meantime, make a night march and sur- 
prise and capture By-lil-le; the moon being about half full at this time, there would 
be ample light for the march, and had there been no light I would have followed 
the same course, as there was no alternative. Accordingly, for the first time I informed 
the men the object of the expedition, namely, to capture By-lil-le, Polly, and their 
worst men. All preparations were made for this night march before dark, saddles 
stripped and each man supplied with 100 rounds of rifle ball cartridges and 20 rounds 
revolver ball cartridges, and the men were informed when awakened to saddle and 
mount without noise. All calls were of course dispensed with after arrival at Four 
Corners, .\bout 10 p. m. I notified the Indian police and friendly Indians of my 
intentions, but for fear some one of them might send information of the plan, after 
notifying them of my intentions, I put them all under guard until we were ready to 
move, when they were required to saddle their ponies and report to me in person. 
The prisoner Sis-co was left at Four Corners under the guard of a sergeant and three 
privates (also one sick private was left at Four Corners, at the direction of the surgeon). 
The wagon master and the chief packer were instructed to break camp next morning 
with the detail left in charge of the prisoner and the wagon-train guard, and to proceed 
to Aneth and await the command there unless otherwise informed in tlie meantime. 
So far as could be learned the presence of the troops was wholly unknown; Mr. Fritz, 
who speaks Navajo fluently and is the trader at the Four Corners, said he had heard 
nothing of soldiers being in the country; that the Indians knew nothing of their 
presence, or he would have heard about it, and that it was a complete surprise to him 
when the command marched into Four Corners that afternoon. Hence it was quite 
reasonable to suppose that with the precautions taken, By-lil-le and his men could 
be taken without trouble. It developed subsequently that not an Indian as close 
as a mile and a half down tlie river knew of the presence of the troops at Four Corners 
until we had passed in the night and accomplished our purpose. At 1.30 the next 
morning the command was quietly awakened, saddled their horses, and left camp 
by 2.30 a. m., without any noise or confusion, under the guidance of the Indian police, 
friendly Indians, and the interpreter, and proceeded rapidly down the valley of the 
San .Juan River for about 14 miles from the camp at Four Corners. The Indian police 
and the Indians were apprehensive that By-lil-le had learned of the troops, and 
would ambush them near' Butler's trading post, about 10 miles down the river, this 
point being near Polly's hogan. However, I reassured them and told them I antici- 
pated no such action, as I did not believe By-lil-le knew anything about it, and to 
push on as rapidly as possible. About 14 miles down the river the command forded 
the San Juan to the south side, and here encountered the first Indian settlement of 
any consequence since leaving Four Corners, this ford being about 3 miles from. 
By-lil-le's camp. 

It was approaching dawn, and after fording the river and striking this settlement 
the troops were moved at a rapid gait through this village and down the south side of 
the river in the direction of By-lil-le's camp. About a half mile from the hogan I 
was informed by the Indian police of the nearness of our destination and gave the 
necessary orders for surrounding the hogan upon arrival. About 5.45 a. m. we reached 
the hogan, surrounded it, and in less time than it can be told had dismounted and 
rushed into the hogan, where By-lil-le, Polly, and another Indian were found, just 
springing to their feet from sleep. 

The surprise was as complete evidently as possible, as they themselves afterwards 
said they did not dream there were any soldiers within a hundred miles of the camp. 
There were also several squaws, a child or so, and a sick man present. The men 
poured into the hogan without ceremony and seized By-lil-le, Polly, and the other 



16 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

Indians, all of the officers being present with the exception of Captain Heard, who 
had remained outside. The Indians strenuously resisted arrest and capture to such a 
degree that it was necessary to use considerable force before they were overcome, 
secured, and handcuffed. Meantime there were other hogans in the vicinity, and 
Indians began coming out and walking over to discover the cause of the disturbance 
and were seized and arrested by my men as soon as they arrived, in this way several 
bad Indians being secured. All resisted arrest when they discovered the soldiers 
and struggled until sufficient force was used to overcome them. Seeing that there 
were more hogans in the neighborhood than I had been informed of, I directed the 
Indian police, through the interpreter, to proceed at once and arrest all of them, 
and iii::uediately afterwards sent Troop I, Fifth ("a^alry, under command of First 
Lieutenant Warren, to assist in arresting these Indians. In this connection attention 
is invited to the reports of Lieutenant Warren, Lieutenant Stewart, and Lieutenant 
Hanson of their movements after receiving and carrying out these orders. Within 
a very short time I heard tiring, at first as if tired from small-caliber arms, and this 
was then followed by heavier firing close by until I distinguished the report of our 
own rifles. I then sent Lieutenant Hanson, with a detachment of Troop K, Fifth 
Cavalry, to the assistance of Lieutenant Warren, retaining a small detachment myself 
as a guard over the prisoners, and requested Captain Heard, the assistant surgeon, 
to ascertain the cause of the firing and to report the same to me. Captain Heard 
had no opportunity to do so, as the entire affair lasted but a few minutes longer after 
he received this order. Attention is invited to Captain Heard's report, hereto 
appended. I then had the prisoners assembled on the road and, with the detach- 
ment still remaining, started off in the direction of the firing, northwest, I should 
judge, and in the direction of Aneth, and had only proceeded when I heard a cry 
for help, and, recognizing the voice of my first sergeant, I designated several men 
to follow and galloped over in the direction of the sound and found the sergeant's 
horse had been shot and had succeeded in getting away from him before he could 
get his rifle, while meantime an Indian who had followed us down the river a mile 
or so was firing at the sergeant at close range, but too far away to be reached by the 
sergeant's revolver. One of my sergeants shot this Indian through the liead about 
the time I reached the first sergeant, and I then recalled those men in the immediate 
vicinity, returned to the prisoners, several hundred yards away, and had the assembly 
sounded and at the same time marched the prisoners and detachment to a point 
about a half mile distant west of the scene of the capture, on the banks of the San 
Juan River, where the assembly was sounded again, and after the arrival of all men 
the rolls were called and all were found to be present or accounted for. none of my 
men having been injured, but that several Indians were reported as having been 
killed. It appeared that on sight of the Indian police, although warned to surrender 
and not to fire, the followers of By-lil-le had paid no attention to these instructions, 
but had deliberately opened fire on the police, apparently not seeing the soldiers 
coming. 

This at once drew fii'e from both the police and my men, and a skirmish which lasted 
from fifteen to twenty minutes, after which time all male hostilcs in the vicinity had 
either escaped through the heavy underbrush or had been killed or captured. The 
command having been assembled, proceeded about 6.30 a. m. with the prisoners 
and Indian police to Aneth, Utah, fording the San Juan to the north side, passing 
By-lil-le's hogans on the north side, and went into camp at Aneth about an' hour 
later. A short distance from camp I met Superintendent Shelton coming to meet 
us (I had already informed him briefly of the circumstances by an Indian policeman 
sent in advance, and he had heard the firing at Aneth). As cjuickly as possible I 
explained what had happened since last I saw him. Superintendent Shelton was 
very pleased that we had captured the bad Indians, particularly By-lil-le and Polly, 
without loss to the squadron. He had been apprehensive of serious trouble with 
them had they received any intimation of our approach, and from the resistance and 
hostile reception we encountered when they were siirprised I am now of the opinion 
that there would have been a serious fight had they heard of our advance beforehand. 

Soon after arrival in camp it was learned from an Indian who came to the trading 
post at Aneth that in addition to three Indians being killed in the fight one had been 
severely wounded by being shot through both legs and had been carried off by the 
Indians after we had left the scene of the capture. It was also now learned that the 
hogan where By-lil-le was captured was not his regular hogan on the south side of 
the river, but a medicine hogan where he was making medicine the night before cap- 
ture. His own hogan was about three-quarters of a mile farther down the river, and 
it is to be regretted that this was not known at the time, as we could have undoubt- 
edly captured a number of arms in this hogan, as By-lil-le's men are known to have 
been armed to the teeth, and only a few days previous By-lil-le himself was seen 



ARRESTS BY "UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. . 17 

with one of the latest improved rifles, 30-30 caliber. However, Lieutenant Stewart, 
with a small detachment, searched all of. the neighboring hogans after we had forded 
the river, and came into camp an hour or so later and reported he had found no arms. 
Three old rifles and one Colt's revolver and several knives were taken from the In- 
dians seized as prisoners or killed. Upon arrival at camp near Aneth a log house 
was utilized for a guardhouse and the prisoners confined there. 

Superintendent Shelton and myself had a talk with By-lil-le, Polly, and the other 
Indian prisoners, when, as could be anticipated, they denied everthing with which 
they were charged, namely, advising their men to threaten people with death, coun- 
seling, advising against the dipping of sheep and the sending of children to school, 
advising Indians to have several wives and to rape Indian girls, to sell their stock to 
unscrupulous traders for a song, to bring whisky in from Cortez, to defy the Govern- 
ment and its authority; in short, to do everything that was forbidden by the Govern- 
ment and to oppose every progressive measure instituted by it. They denied these 
things, while their own followers, notably Sis-co, says they said and did every one of 
them and more, too. They had the Indians, well disposed, and white people of this 
section terrorized and in constant fear and dread of surprise and attack. They have 
repeatedly threatened to kill Superintendent Shelton and his farmer at Aneth, Mr. 
Holley. By-lil-le denied he was a witch, or could make rain or lightning, or could 
shoot hidden darts into any Indian; denied that he ever claimed that the white man's 
bullet could not kill him, but sufficient answer to his denial is to be found in the fact 
that other Indians say he claimed all of these powers, and he killed Do-he-he with 
hidden darts; and he has so terrorized Cluh, a prominent Indian of this section and a 
friend of Do-hi-e. with the threat to kill Clah with hidden darts like Do-hi-e that Clah 
sent for a sand painter, one of the best in the tribe, to Winslow, Ariz., and paid the 
latter $700 to break By-lil-le's power over him. Knowing the Indians' wholesome 
dread of such things and their superstitious ideas, it is not difficult to conceive that 
By-lil-le exercised more influence over the Indians as a medicine man, who could do 
them much good, if he chose, or who could kill if they failed to obey him, than in any 
other capacity. Clah and the friendly Indians along with the command begged 
Superintednent Shelton to hang By-lil-le and Polly at once, as they said they were 
bad Indians and medicine men and"^ ought to be killed. This is stated merely to show 
the fear the well-disposed Indians entertained of them and what their sentiments are 
concerning By-lil-le and Polly. In the afternoon a short march was made up the 
river about 6 miles over the same ground covered in the morning and over the scene 
of the capture and skirmish. 

All Indians were gone except several old squaws and some sick Indians. Probably 
they were in the hills and rocks southwest of the village watching us all of the time. 
It was intended to try and find the wounded Indian reported, take him prisoner, and 
have his wounds dressed by the surgeon, but he could not be foimd; a new spear was 
found right at the door of the hogan, where we had been told he was staying, and which 
had been made evidently since the affair in the morning. This is sufficient evidence 
to show that the intentions of those of By-lil-Ie's men who escaped in the morning 
were far from friendly to us. The spear wae confiscated and taken along. We marched 
through the settlement and about 2 miles east on the river from the scene of trouble in 
the morning and found all hogans deserted. About 2 miles from By-lil-le's hogan we 
came across some other Indians who do not belong to his following, although he has 
terrorized them and had such influence over them that they were afraid to antagonize 
him in any way whatever. 

There were a number of Navajos here, and Superintendent Shelton and myself talked 
to them an hour tlirough an interpreter, explaining the trouble which had occurred, 
and we assming them of the intentions of the superintendent and the soldiers. They 
seemed pleased with By-lil-le's capture and wanted him taken away, and said so long 
as he was gone they would obey the superintendent and do what he wished, but that 
they coiild not do so as long as By-lil-le was there to shoot hidden darts into them and 
make bad medicine when they refused to obey him. They seemed glad to know that 
the soldiers were only the enemies of the bad Indians and would do no harm tci the 
friendly ones, as some scoundrel who had escaped in the morning, an Indian by the 
name of Bo-got-toii,. and who belonged to By-lil-le's following, had passed thi-ough their 
camp in the morning after the trouble, headed for the Carriso Mountains, and had told 
them that the soldiers had been shooting down the Navajos like dogs, and that they 
had better strike out for the mountains themselves. Naturally they were more or less 
alarmed, and were glad to find out the facts of the case, and said their hearts felt good 
after our talk with them, and they would obey Washington thereafter. After this 
powwow the troops returned to Aneth. Hearing that there was a rumor of Indians 
gathering and attempting to make a night attack, I detailed a heavy guard the night 
of the 28th and made preparations to receive them, if necessary, but nothing happened. 

S. Doc. 517, 60-1 2 



18 • ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

The wagon and pack train had arrived late in the afternoon of the 28th from Four 
Corners, having had an accident in which one wagon turned over several times down 
the river bank and hurt one of the soldier teamsters, Private Mowen, Troop I, to such 
an extent that the wagon master. Sergeant Thompson, Troop K, had to send Mowen 
to Shiprock by an agency wagon which was at Four Corners, having hauled forage to 
that point for the command. The troops and prisoners left Aneth at 7.30 a. m. the 29th, 
en route to Four Corners, Utah, arriving there in the afternoon about 3 p. m. without 
incident. 

While at Aneth I conversed with Mr. Heffener, Indian trader there, who has resided 
a number of years in this locality and who is thoroughly conversant with By-lil-le's and 
Polly's characteristics and habits, as well as those of their men. He was of the opinion 
that By-lil-le and Polly were vicious; bad Indians are the worst type; said there Were 
none more cunning, crafty, or more villainous, and that if anything Polly was worse 
than By-lil-le, as By-lil-le was cute enough to incite other Indians to commit acts of 
deviltry, whereas Polly would not and had not hesitated to commit them himself. 
From the looks of these Indians it can be well imagined that such is the case, for 
although I have gi-own up in the West, where Indians have been numerous — Sioux, 
Cheyenne, Arrapahoe, and many other tribes — I do not think I ever saw a more villain- 
ous appearing pair than By-lil-le and Polly, with all of their protestations of innocence 
and loyalty. I accompanied Superintendent Shelton ahead of the troops to Butler's 
trading post, about 9 or 10 miles distant from Aneth on the road to Four Corners. His 
store is close to Polly's hogans, and he has known these Indians well for years; said 
By-lil-le came into his store not long ago with 15 other Navajos, aimed to the teeth; 
said the Indians said their hearts were l^ad; that they were bad Indians, and that they 
threatened to kill everybody. Mr. Butler, who is a trader of many years' standing 
in this country, and who has the reputation of being a fearless man, told me that he 
thought it one of the worst corners he was ever in; said the talk got so bad that he 
reached down under his counter and cocked his revolver and then asked By-lil-le if 
the latter had it in for him, Butler, to say so, as he had determined to kill By-lil-le and 
as many more as possible, if worst came to worst. By-liUe would talk in Navajo and 
English mixed, and in English told Butler he was not mad at him and in Navajo 
they were all mad at the better class of Indians, who were following the directions of 
the superintendent, and that they had better leave his crowd alone. Butler said soon 
after, much to his relief, By-lil-le and his men left. He thinks Polly more villainous, 
if such be possible, than By-lil-le, and congratulated me on surprising and capturing 
them without loss, as he said they were a bad lot and would have put up a stiff fight 
if they had known we were coming. Butler said he thought that if these Indians had 
not been captured soon that by spring they would have so stirred up the trouble and 
so agitated the renegade Black Mountain Navajos, Piutes, and Utes in that section 
that a very serious Indian war would have resulted. I may state that this same opin- 
ion is shared by a number of other gentlemen throughout this country. I shall refer 
to these Black Mountain Navajos and Piutes in a future report, as I believe the Depart- 
ment should be fully acquainted with some facts which have been learned about them. 
Mr. Butler was of the further opinion that the troops had arrived at a most opportune 
time. Six weeks ago, he said, when there was trouble there, the Indians had been 
watching for soldiers and prepared to give them a warm reception, and later on he 
did not think two troops of cavalry could have handled the situation. He was of 
the opinion that the surprise and capture of these Indians without any loss to the 
command was, to say the least, most fortunate. 

The same views were expressed by Mr. Charles Fritz, trader at Four Corners, Utah, 
as those of the other gentleman quoted, and as they are all said to be reliable and 
trustworthy men, of long years' experience with the Indians, I believe their opinions 
are all entitled to much weight, and for that reason give them as indicative of the 
attitude of the Indians and the situation up to the time we entered southern Utah. 
They are men of the old fi-ontiersmen type, who have in the past for thirty years lived 
with these Indians, and who have many times been obliged to defend themselves 
against hostile Utes, Piutes, and Navajos. They are well informed of the Indians' 
characteristics, as well as acquainted with the Indians themselves, and in saying what 
they did I do not believe that they are unnecessarily alarmists, but have stated cold 
facts, which are corroborated by the testimony of other people and friendly Indians, 
and, when taken in connection with Superintendent Shelton's reports of the Indians, 
indicate far more clearly than anything I could state the character of these Indians, 
their talk and designs, and the general situation. Notwithstanding the Indians' 
statement that they are good friends, etc., in the face of such incontrovertible evi- 
dence it is a case of actions speaking louder than words. The prisoners were care- 
fully guarded at Four Corners and all precautions taken against a possible attempt to 
rescue or attack on the camp. On the 30th instant the troops marched from Four 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 19 

Corners to Shiprock, together with the prisoners, including Sis-co, wagon train, etc., 
and arrived here at 4 p. m. this date, at which time I immediately sent a telegram 
notifying you as briefly as possible of the facts. Nothing of importance happened 
en route to Shiprock. A log cabin here was turned over to me for use as a guardhouse 
and the necessary bars placed over the windows and sufficient guard detailed over 
the prisoners to insure their safe-keeping. As to the general situation on the San Juan 
in the vicinity of Aneth, where the trouble occurred, I have the honor to inform you 
as follows: The Indians in this section are more or less disturbed by the seizure of 
By-lil-le and his men, as well as by the killing of the Indians, who first fired on our 
forces, for it was reported by these Indians who escaped that we had opened fire on 
By-lil-le's men first. This statement was misleading and false, as it was no doubt 
intended to be, inasmuch as the hostile Indians knew very well that if it became 
known that they had begun the fight, after the Indian police had called upon them 
to surrender and lay down their arms, that they would get little sympathy from the 
good Indians, whereas if they could make it appear that the soldiers were the aggres- 
sors and had fired upon them without provocation they would have the sympathy of 
all Indians and possibly their aid. Superintendent Shelton wisely sent out police 
and runners in all directions to spread the true account and to reassure all friendly 
Indians of the Government's pacific attitude toward them, and this is already bearing 
fruit, since Indians are coming in and saying how glad they are that the bad men are 
gone. The traders are all of the opinion that things will quiet down in a very short 
time, unless the Black Mountain Navajos stu- up trouble, which I hardly believe 
likely now. Should they, however, do so, it would require a strong force, in my opin- 
ion, fully equipped and supplied for a long time, to deal with them, as they are in an 
almost inaccessible region about 100 miles southwest of here, and never have, so 
far as I can ascertain, been conquered or have they ever complied with the directions 
of the agents except in so far as they saw fit to do. Superintendent Shelton states 
there must be 2,000 Indians in this district. When the Navajos were subjugated 
and taken to Fort Sumner these Black Mountains retreated into the vastness of these 
mountains and were not molested. From this it is plain to be seen that should any 
trouble occur with them it would requu-e a large force to operate against them. 
As stated, no trouble is apprehended at present, as they are apt to remain fahly peace- 
able so long as not interfered with. The Navajos on the San Juan will all probably 
do more or less talking after this occurrence, but I believe that they have received a 
most effective lesson and since the prime movers of the trouble in that district are 
here in captivity it is hardly to be anticipated that anything more than talk will 
come from them. 

There have, moreover, been informed that upon their conduct hereafter will more 
or less depend the degree of punishment the prisoners are to receive. A man came 
from Butler's trading post this morning and reports all quiet in the section where the 
trouble occurred and says no further trouble is looked for now. In view of these facts 
I believe I can safely state that no prolonged stay of this command is necessary at this 
agency or in this section of the country. This opinion is likewise shared by Superin- 
tendent Shelton himself, with whom I have worked in conjunction from the time of 
my arrival here. The superintendent has been most kind, courteous, and hospitable 
to us in every way, giving us all the assistance possible, accompanied us in person on 
our expedition, and would have been present at the capture hacl he known beforehand 
that it was to occur that night. He had assured me that everything done so far has met 
with his full approbation and would have his hearty support in his own department. 
Our relations have been most satisfactory, and the success achieved in capturing 
these Indians is in no small degree to be attributed to the superintendent and the loyal 
assistance given me. He believes as well as myself that a week's longer sojourn here 
from the ttme we arrived, October 30, will be ample time to ascertain whether there 
will be any further necessity for troops. If all is found by reports from Aneth to be 
quiet in that section he looks for no further trouble and will recommend the troops be 
withdrawn and directed by wire to return to their proper station. I concur fully in 
this opinion and recommendation, and request that the same be adopted. This will 
give time for much needed rest to the command, enable horses to be reshod, wagons 
repaired, etc. , and at the same time the troops will be here in reach in case of any unfore- 
seen emergency. If the troops are to remain a longer period than this, at least ten days' 
additional rations must be asked for and this dispatched here without delay, as there 
are only sufticient rations on hand to last the command until the 12th of November. I 
spared no stock in the effort to reach this point promptly, and while the trip has been 
very severe since we left Fort Wingate, October 22, ha^dng marched in round numbers 
237 miles to date, and the men and horses are tired from the hard work, all animals are 
in excellent shape and the men well with the exception of two men, who were hurt in 
slight accidents en route and who are getting along nicely, and a few days' rest will 
prove most beneficial to the command. 



20 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

With reference to Indians killed their names are as follows: Nah-pi-waze (Smarty), 
Cle-waze; also one Indian, name unknown, and the one wounded was By-lil-le-be-tah, 
nephew of By-lil-le himself. All are said by Superintendent Shelton and Indian 
traders to have been as tough Indians as By-lil-le had, and that if there had been a 
selection made in advance as to what Indians should have been killed no better selec- 
tion could have been possibly made. The Indians killed whose names are given 
have repeatedly threatened to kill Mr. Hodley, additional farmer at Aneth. Five of 
By-lil-le's waniors were away at this time in Colorado, so of course were not captured. 
Relative to the disposition of the pi-isoners captured, sufficient has already been stated to 
show the dangerous character of these Indians and the deplorable influence they 
have had upon other Indians. The friendly Indians have asked permission to kill 
By-lil-le and the worst of his men, and when this permission was refused they have 
asked Superintendent Shelton to send for soldiers and take By-lil-le and Polly away 
from here forever. This Indian By-lil-le, possibly 55 years of age, was so mean.years 
ago that his own people threatened to kill him unless he went away and never re- 
tvirned. Acting under compulsion he therefore left the section, went away, and 
remained 'with Bill Hyde, said to have been one of Brigham Young's destroying 
angles, so called, somewhere in XTtah for a period of fifteen years, during which time 
he added to his own savage cunning all the deviltry that could be acquired from this 
disciple of Young. It is plain to be seen that he is a vicious Indian and a dangerous 
one. Polly is the same and said to be more murderous than By-lil-le; both of them 
were in captivity at Fort Sumner years ago. I would therefore recommend that in 
view of their bad reputation and the trovible they have been causing in this section 
for the last four years, and the evil influence they have exerted over other friendly 
Indians, that these two Indians, with the approval of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, be confined in military prison at hard labor for a period of not less than ten 
years, some such place as Alcatraz Island, Cal., where the Navajo prisoners were sent 
whom I secured at Fort Defiance, Ariz., two years ago this fall, and at the conclusion 
of their confinement they be sent to some other Indian reserve or agency and never 

Permitted to return here. At the earnest solicitation of some excellent Indians I 
ave told them I would endeavor to have this done, and firmly believe it is for the 
best interest of all concerned that this recommendation be carried into effect. In 
the case of the other Indians captured and whose names are as follows: 1. Sis-co; 
2. Hosteen Et-so; 3. By-lil-le-be-tah, sr; 4. At-city; 5. Hosteen Es-cah-be-ga, 6. 
This-cheen-nah-ki-nah-la-be-ga; 7. Clize-slon-be-ga; 8. Mel-e-yon. 

In view of their failure to obey the commands of their superintendent, to dip their 
sheep, to send their children to school, raping girls and carrying off young girls for 
wives, having plural wives, carrying dangerous weapons, resisting arrest, advising their 
followers to fire upon us, in general opposing the superintendent in his efforts to 
improve the Indian and better his condition, I recommend that, with the approval 
of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, they be confined at some suitable military 
prison at hard labor for a period of two years, and if their conduct has then been 
good, that they then be returned at the conclusion of this term of imprisonment. 
That in the meantime pending final decision of this matter, that these prisoners be 
taken by me to Fort Wingate, N. Mex. , under guard, and held there awaiting final 
action, providing my troops return there in the immediate future. 

Superintendent Shelton has informed me that he would furnish me with a copy 
of his report made to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; when the same has been 
received I shall forward same to be filed in connection with this report. 

A report will be submitted relative to the subject of the Black Mountain Indians as 
soon as the same can be prepared. Attention is respectfully invited to accompany- 
ing sketch of the scene of capture and action October 28, 1907, executed under 
the direction of Second Lieut. C. W. Stewart, Fifth Cavalry, topographical officer 
of the command. 

In conclusion I take pleasure in stating that I can not commend too highly the 
conduct of all officers and men during the skirmish of the 28th instant; every one 
performed his duty in a soldierly and excellent manner, creditable to themselves 
and befitting the reputation of their regiment. 
Very respectfully, 

Harry O. Williard, 
Captain, Fifth U. S. Cavalry, Commanding Squadron. 

The Adjutant-General, 

Headquarters Department of the Colorado, Denver, Colo. 

Official copy respectfully furnished Superintendent Shelton, Shiprock, N. Mex., 
for his information, g 

Harry O. Williard, 
'' Captain, Fifth U. S. Cavalry. 



AEEESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 21 

Shiprock, N. Mex., October so, 1907, 

(Via Farmington, N. Mex.) 
To Commissioner Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 
Troops have just returned from southern Utah. Informed by wires that they arrested 
By-a-lil-le and 9 other Indians; 3 others were killed and 1 wounded while shoot- 
ing at the Indian police and soldiers. The Indians are quiet and I do not antici- 
{)ate any further trouble unless the Black Mountain Indians cause it. Report will 
oUow. 

Shelton, Superintendent. 



San Juan School, 
Shiprock, N. Mex., November 4, 1907. 

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my reports of March 29, 1907, and September 18, 
1907, relative to an Indian named By-a-lil-le, who has been causing trouble, and to- 
my telegram dated October 30, in which I said: " The troops have just returned from 
southern Utah, where they arrested By-a-lil-le and 9 other Indians; 3 others were 
killed and 1 wounded while shooting at the Indian police and the soldiers. The 
Indians are quiet and I do not anticipate further trouble unless the Black Mountain 
Indians cause it. Report will follow." 

In this connection I have to report that Troops I and K, Fifth U. S. Cavalry, from 
Fort Wingate, N. Mex., with Capt. H. O. Williard in command, arrived here late in the 
afternoon October 26, where they camped over night, during which time the command- 
ing officer looked over my correspondence directed to yonr office bearing on the subject 
and discussed the matter verbally with me. It was decided that By-a-lil-le should be 
placed under arrest as soon as possible, in order to prevent him from gathering his fol- 
lowers for a resistance and from going to the Black Mountains after other Indians to 
Sin his band, which in all probability would have caused an uprising in that section, 
e had threatened to go to these mountains for help in case soldiers should come into 
the country, and had ordered his men to shoot the soldiers and policemen if they came. 

The troops started from here early Sunday morning, the 27th, arriving at the Four 
Comers trading post that afternoon. I gathered up all of the Indian police that were 
near the agency and directed them to go down the river and to the Carriso Mountains 
and notify a number of prominent Indians to meet the troops at Four Comers. It was 
our intention to locate By-a-lil-le and surround him and his band with the troops, 
Indian police, and other Indians, and if possible, to arrest them without resistance, t 
left the agency some time after the troops started, passing them on the road. I reached 
Four Comers first, where I found a member of By-a-lil-le's band. I detained him 
there until the commanding officer arrived, who placed him under arrest. I left the 
troops at this point and drove down the river with an interpreter, in order to locate 
By-a-lil-le, that I might notify the commanding officer where he could be found, 
intending that if I located him on the north side of the river to notify the commander, 
so that he might come down that night. I stopped at the home of one of By-a-lil-le's 
wives, 16 miles below the Four Comers, and learned that he was on the opposite side of 
the river, after which I drove to Heffeman's trading post to spend the night, intending 
to start back early next morning to meet the troops and inform the commander what I 
had leamed. Next moming, just at daybreak, while hitching up my team, I heard 
guns fired in the direction of By-a-lil-le's camp on the south side of the river. Before 
I could reach this place I met the troops with By-a-lil-le and ejght of his followers, who 
had been taken prisoners. The commanding officer informed"me that the Indians had 
opened fire on the police and soldiers, and that they were compelled to fire back at the 
Indians, and that two were known to be dead and one wounded. I will inclose here- 
with a report signed by Capt. Harry O. Williard, directed to the Adjutant-General, 
Department of the Colorado, Denver, Colo, which will explain the movements of the 
troops from the time I left them at the Four Comers until I met them the next moming 
with the prisoners under arrest. 

The troops were located in camp at Aneth; had something to eat, after which we 
went up to where the trouble occurred, for the purpose of burying the dead men and 
to look after the wounded ones. None of them could be found. I heard later that 
they had been carried off to the rocks by the women. No Indians, except a sick man 
and one child, were seen in this settlement, but 2 miles above in another settlement 
several Indians were seen and talked with who said they were glad By-a-lil-le had 
been captured; that he and his band had by threats and intimidations held them 
back for years and prevented them from making progress as the Indians had in other 
sections. 

While the appearance of soldiers in the country and the arrest of By-a-lil-le and his 
band, as well as the killing of two men and wounding another, caused a little excite- 



22 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

ment among the Indians, everything is as quiet as could be expected. Every Indian 
that I have talked with wants By-a-lil-le and Polly sent off and kept away from the 
reservation, and they say the others should be punished for a while. 

The father of De-cla-yaze, one of the men killed, came to see me to-day and said 
that he blamed no one but his son; that he had been advised and talked with time 
and again by good people, and that he had persisted in doing as By-a-lil-le had told 
him. This man was more than a mile up the river from where the Indians were 
arrested, and when he heard the troops and police pass he followed them down with 
his gun and opened fire on the police, and continued to shoot until he was killed. 
Nah-pa-yaze, the other man killed, was an ''all-round" bad man as well as the other 
one. Aside from By-a-lil-le's immediate band, no regrets have been expressed that 
either of these men were killed. By-a-lil-le-be-tah, the wounded man, was a nephew 
of By-a-lil-le, and was one of his regular bodyguards. That these men had been in- 
structed to shoot in case of interference by the police or soldiers was shown by their 
actions. The members of this band that are under arrest, as well as a number of 
Indians that are not arrested, say that By-a-lil-le told them to always be ready and 
shoot the soldiers or police when they interfered with them. I had been told this 
before. 

I regret very much that it became necessary to kill or wound anyone, but I can not 
see how it could have been avoided. Captain Williard took every precaution possible 
to avoid hurting the Indians. The policemen and other Indians begged these men to 
stop shooting, and told them they would get killed if they did not stop and surrender. 

In my telegram dated October 30, I stated that three men were killed instead of two; 
this was the first report, but I found it to be a mistake. 

A more favorable time could not have been selected for arresting By-a-lil-le, as the 
largest part of his band were not at the camp when the arrest was made. Five of his 
worst men were in Colorado. If there had been any intimation that soldiers were in the 
country, all of the Indians belonging to this band would have been on hand armed and 
ready to fight. They have been preparing for a fight for several months. 

I do not think that there is any further danger of trouble along the San Juan River. 
The majority of the Indians are good and law-abiding people, and the bad Indians wUl 

grofit by the experience of those now in trouble. The Indians living in the country 
etween Bluff, Utah, and the Black Mountains may get worked up a little and do 
some talking, but I believe it will end with this. In time, some steps will have to be 
taken to teach these Indians and those west of there that they live in a civilized 
country. 

The prisoners in custody are all very penitent and say that they have pm'sued the 
wrong course. A large number of Indians were here yesterday, and the prisoners 
were allowed to talk to them. They told the Indians that they had been on the 
wrong road and that it had got them in trouble. They sent word to the rest of their 
band to turn their guns over to me and the farmer and ask us to sell them, and advised 
them to follow the advice of myself, the farmer, and the good Indians. They also 
sent word for their friends to come to the agency and promise that they would behave 
themselves and stay out of trouble. A part of them were here to-day and have gone 
back to bring others. 

All of the Indians on this part of the reservation , as well as the most of those down 
the river, are pleased that these men have been arrested. Some of them want the 
leaders hung, while all of them, except near relatives, want all of the prisoners sent 
away and punished for a while. 

While By-a-lil-le has been the ring leader of this band of bad men and has been 
the cause of most of the trouble, the others have been willing to carry out his orders 
and disregard the advice of myself, the farmer, and the leading Indians. Next to 
By-a-lil-le, a man named Polly had been most troublesome. Like By-a-lil-le, he 
has been among the white people a great deal, and he knew better than to act as "he 
has. He has been a willing assistant to By-a-lil-le in all of his meanness, and has 
been equally as active in preventing the Indians from dipping their sheep. By-a- 
lU-le ordered the Indians to keep their sheep out of the way and not allow them to 
be dipped, and then had one of his wives take his to the plant and have them dipped. 
Polly sent his sheep to the hills and refused to bring them in and prevented others 
that wanted to dip from doing so. I consider Polly more dangerous as an individual 
than By-a-lil-le. And I think the two should receive equal punishment. 

In order to maintain discipline on this reservation and to teach the Indians that 
are inclined to be outlaws that this Government will not tolerate an armed body of 
bad men, I think all of the prisoners, except one old man, should receive some 
pimishment. 



ABRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 28 

The names of the prisoners are: 1, By-a-lil-le; 2, Polly; 3, Sis-co; 4, Hosteen-et-so ; 
5, By-a lil-le-be-tah, sr.; 6, At-city; 7, Bis-cla-e; 8, Tha-el-chee-nah-ki-be-ga; 9, 
Cliz-e-slon-be-ga; 10, Mele-yon. 

I would respectfully recommend that Hosteen-et-so, the old man, be released ane 
permitted to retiu-n home. And that By-a-lil-le and Polly be confined in somd 
suitable military prison at hard labor for a period of ten years, and that the other 
seven men be confined in some suitable military prison for a period of two years; if 
their conduct has been good in the meantime they may be returned to their homes. 

I wish to state that Captain Williard and the other officers and men with the troops 
have rendered good service here. Captain Williard has talked to the Indians several 
times in council and advised them in a friendly and kind manner to heed the advice 
of their agent and others whose duty it was to give advice; at the same time he made 
it plain to the Indians that the Government would not tolerate a band of bad men 
who joined themselves together to defy law and order or to intimidate or interfere 
with Indians that were conducting themselves properly. 

It is my opinion that troops will be no longer needed in this vicinity, and I respect- 
fully recommend that they be instructed to retiun to Fort Wingate and take the 
prisoners with them for safe-keeping until their cases are finally disposed of. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. Shelton, 
Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 

^^The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



Department of the Interior, 

Washington, November 9, 1907 . 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by your reference of the 6th instant; 
of the following telegram addressed to the Adjutant-General of the Army under date of 
November 5, by the commanding officer Department of Colorado: 

"Captain William, commanding the t-wfo troops Fifth Cavalry sent to Aneth, Utah, on 
Navajo Reservation, reports under date November fourth, the purpose of his visit there 
accomplished, he reports conditions satisfactory and that both Indian Superintendent 
Shelton and himself are of the opinion that the troops might properly now be with- 
drawn, but taking along the ten troublesome Indians now held prisoners to Wingate j 
pending final disposition of their cases. Recommend that I be authorized to return 
troops to proper station and hold in confinement the ten Indian prisoners at Fort Win- 
gate, pending instructions from the Interior Department as to final disposition of 
prisoners. Full report of Captain William's movements will be made shortly by mail, ' ' 

Agreeably to your request for an expression of the views of this Department in the 
matter, I have to advise you that it was refen-ed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
and that he and the Department fully concur in the opinion of the commanding officer, 
that there is no further need for troops, and that the ten Indian prisoners mentioned 
should be held temporarily at Fort Wingate. 

The matter of the final disposition of these Indian prisoners will be made the subject 
of another communication. The telegram is returned herewith. 
Very respectfully, 

James Rudolph Garfield, 

Secretanj. 

The Secretary of War. 



War Department, 
Washington, November 13, 1907. 
Sir: Referring to your letter of November 9, 1907, I have the honor to inclose here- 
with for your information a copy of a telegram of November 12, 1907, to the command- 
ing general. Department of the Colorado, Denver, Colo., authorizing him to withdraw 
the two troops of the Fifth Cavalry from Aneth, Utah, and to hold the 10 Indian prison- 
ers in confinement at Fort Wingate, N. Mex., pending receipt of further instructions. 
Very respectfully, 

xvoBERT Shaw Oliver, 

Actina Secretary of War. 
The Secretary of the Interior. 



24 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

War Department, 
The Adjutant-General's Office, 

Washington, November 12, 1907. 
Commanding General, Department of Colorado, 

'^^Denver, Colo.:"^ 
Keference your telegram ISlovember 5, Acting Secretary War authorizes you to return 
two troops Fifth Cavalry, from Aneth, Utah, to proper station and to hold 10 Indian 
prisoners in confinement at Fort Wingate pending further instructions. 

Adjutant-General. 



San Juan School, 
Shiprock, N. Mex., November 16, 1907. 
- Sir: I have the honor to report that on the evening of October 28 last, while the 
troops were in camp at Aneth, Utah, an Indian named Nick Lee visited the camp of 
the Indian police and Government scouts, and while there he severely criticised the 
soldiers for arresting By-a-lil-le and his men and criticised the Government for send- 
ing the soldiers on the reservation. After the troops had retunied to this place this 
man Lee also came to the agency, when the police and scouts informed the com- 
manding officer and myself of his remarks. The commander immediately placed 
him under arrest and notified his Department of his action, requesting that the pris- 
oner be taken to Fort Wingate for three months' confinement. I will inclose herewith 
a copy of a letter addressed to the commanding officer, stating that the arrest of this 
man meets with my approval ; that he had made more or less trouble on this reserva- 
tion since his return from the penitentiary. 

In this connection I have to say that the man referred to served a ten years' sentence 
in the Arizona penitentiary for murder. And since his return to the reservation, 
some four years ago, he had made considerable trouble for himself and others. For a 
year or more he was a member of By-a-lil-le's band, but was compelled to leave 
that locality on account of threats made by By-a-lil-le and others against his life. He 
came to me and asked for work and promised to behave himself. And aside from 
interfering with other people's business he has not been a bad man. He is the only 
man that has had anything to say against the action of the Government m suppressing 
the trouble in southern Utah, and I trust that the action of Captain Williard in arrest- 
ing him will meet the approval of your Office. His Department approved of his action. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. Shelton, 
Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 
f- The Commissioner of Indian'Affairs. 



*l San Juan School, 

Shiprock, N. Mex., November 4, 1907. 
f Dear Sir: In the matter of Nick Lee, the man you have under airest for trying to 
incite trouble at your camp the night after the arrest of By-a-lil-le and his band, I have 
to say that the arrest of this man meets with my approval and I think that three months' 
confmement will teach him a good lesson. He has made more or less trouble on this 
reservation since he returned from the penitentiary. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. Shelton, ' 
Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 
Capt. H. O. Williard, 

Fifth Cavalry, Commanding. 



San Juan School, 
Shiprock, N. Mex., November 16, 1907. 
Sir: I have the honor to report that the troops have returned to Fort Wingate, taking 
with them ten prisoners. Hosteen-et-so, the old man referred to in my letter of the 4th 
instant, was released. I have to report further that the arrest of these renegade 
Indians has had the desired effect. All of the leading Indians are well pleased with 
the outcome of this affair, and they are coming here daily from different parts of the 
reservations to assure me that they are pleased. Many of them have requested me to 
thank you for sending the soldiers here and for taking By-a-lil-le and his followeis away. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 25 

These people were hated and feared more than I ever realized. Indians have been 
coming here every day since the trouble occurred and I have only heard of one that 
had any fault to find, and he is an ex-convict, who was for a time a member of the same 
band. I will refer to him in another letter. 

All of the former members of By-a-lil-le's band, including his wives, sons, and sons- 
in-laws, have been to see me, and they all say that By-a-lil-le is to blame for the 
trouble. His own sister told me that he had always lied to them and had prejudiced 
them against the Government and the Indians that were trying to please the Govern- 
ment. His oldest son brought me his and his father's guns and placed a younger 
brother in school. This boy was placed in school without any solicitation on my part. 
All of these Indians admit that they have been mean, and say that they are going to 
turn over a new leaf and live as they should. The other Indians promise to be friendly 
with them and help them to be better people. 

By-a-lil-le and the other prisoners were each given an opportunity to talk to their 
friends and the other Indians. They all admitted that they had been doing wrong, 
and advised those that they talked to to profit by their experience and stay out of 
trouble. 

A number of prominent Indians have talked to the different crowds that have been 
here, and in each case the speaker as well as the other Indians approved of what had 
been done. No one has suggested clemency for any of the prisoners, and the release 
of the old man met with some opposition. 

I can not see any prospects of further trouble on this reservation. All the Indians 
are satisfied with the present situation, now that the worst Indians and trouble makers 
are gone. Everybody has settled down to work. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. T. Shelton, 
Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



Department of the Interior, 

Washington, Novernher 22, 1907. 
' Sir: On November 9 I had the honor to acknowledge the receipt, by your reference, 
of a telegram addressed to the Adjutant-General of the Army on November 5 by the 
commanding officer. Department of the Colorado, relating to the return from Aneth, 
Utah, of two troops of the Fifth U. S. Cavalry to Fort Wingate, N. Mex., and holding 
as prisoners 10 hostile Indians arrested on the Navajo Reservation pending the final 
disposition of their cases. 

In accordance with your request for an expression of my views in the matter, I ad- 
vised you that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the Department fully concurred 
in the opinion of the commanding officer that there was no further need for troops at 
Aneth, and that the 10 prisoners mentioned should be held temporarily at Fort Win- 
gate; also that their final disposition would be made the subject of another commu- 
nication upon receipt of further information respecting the matter. 

The Indian Office received on the 13th instant a report from the superintendent of 
the San Juan School, Shiprock, N. Mex., in regard thereto, accompanied by an official 
copy of one addressed by Capt. H. O. Williard, Fifth Cavalry, commanding squadron, 
to the adjutant-general, Department of the Colorado, Denver, Colo., explaining the 
movements of the troops from the beginning to the end of the march and the arrest of 
the Indians now held as prisoners. 

It is shown by these that Superintendent Shelton and Captain Williard worked in 
conjunction from the time of the arrival of the latter upon the scene of trouble, and 
that the former accompanied the troops in person upon their expedition. 
Ill In view of the bad character of two of the ring leaders — By-a-lil-le and Polly — their 
hostility to the Government, their efforts to kill those who interf erred with them, 
the fact that they were ' ' armed to the teeth ; ' ' that they resisted arrest ; that their band , 
under former instructions given them, fired upon the troops, and for other reasons 
which will be set out hereinafter, the superintendent and Captian Williard recom- 
mended that the two Indians named, with the approval of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, be confined in a military prison at hard labor for a period of ten years. The 
captain suggests that at the conclusion of their confinement they be sent to some other 
reserve or agency and never permitted to return to the Navajo Reservation. 

In the case of the other Indians (8 in number) captured, namely, Sis-co, Hosteen- 
et-so, By-a-lil-le-be-tah, sr., At-city,]Bis-cla-e, Tha-el-chee-nah-ki-be-ga, Cliz-e-slon- 



26 ABRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

be-ga, and Mele-yon, Captain Williard recommends, for good and sufficient reasons, 
that, with the approval of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, they be confined in a 
similar manner for the period of two years. The superintendent concurs in this recom- 
mendation, except in the case of Hosteen-et-so, who, being an old man, should, he 
thinks, be released and returned home. 

The Indian Office has known all along of the bad influence of By-a-lil-le among 
a settlement of Indians on the Navajo Reservation south of the San Juan River, some 
40 miles northwest of Shiprock, N. Mex., but hoped, through the superintendent and 
the farmer in charge, to overcome it. gain his confidence, and persuade him to exert 
hie influence with his clan for good. Such efforts, however, were unsuccessful, al- 
though put forth in a most diplomatic and careful manner, 

He (By-a-lil-le) found fault with the Indians who tried to improve their condition 
under instructions from the superintendent, and by threats and intimidation en- 
deavored to enlist their support in defying the Government and its authority, and he 
and his band of 30 or more outlaws purchased arms and ammunition and threatened 
to kill Mr. Shelton (the superintondent) and Mr. Holly (the farmer), the policemen, 
or anyone else who came to interfere with them in any way whatever. 

By-a-lil-le is a medicine man and is known among the Indians as a rain maker, 
many being so credulous as to believe that he could make it rain or cause the rain to 
cease. When his pretensions failed to have the desired effect he threatened to kill 
those who denied his power and did not believe in him and his followers. By coercion 
he enlisted a number of Indians on his side who were not in sympathy with his 
movements. 

With his armed brigand force he went into the outlying districts of the reservation 
and threatened to exterminate the Indians who sent their children to school or took 
up the white man's ways, and to bring all kinds of disaster upon the ignorant who failed 
to follow him, using his craft and cunning as a "big medicine man" and telling them 
that if the soldiers came he would cause the lightning to strike them dead. 

He inspired the Indians with awe wherever he went, filled them with a restless 
spirit, terrorized the white settlements bordering on the reservation, and lived by 
depredating upon the stock and other property of the peaceable Indians and the whites. 
His moral character is bad — the worst type. He and his followers committed rape, 
compelled widows and their daughters of 12 and 13 years to live with them as wives, 
and often sold their own daughters for horses and sheep to older men for second and 
third wives. 

The influence of this band of renegades and outlaws extended beyond their own 
settlement. It reached the Navajos, Piutes, and Apaches who inhabit the brakes 
and mountains of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers, beyond the restraints of civili- 
zation, where they have roamed at will, and whence they came to steal from and com- 
mit other outrages against friendly Indians and white settlers. As an illustration, 
R. S. Connell, special Indian agent, says in a report of April 6 last to the Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs respecting these classes that he saw 12 Piutes come into a coop- 
erative store at Bluff, Utah, equipped with pistols, belts, and cartridges; that one 
deliberately shot an arrow into the middle of the floor: that another amused his com- 
panions by hacking the store counters with a big knife, and that the trader feared to 
object, saying that it was easier to tolerate and feed such Indians than to fight them. 
They were mounted and had rifles strapped to their saddles. 

Mr. Heffener, an Indian trader at Aneth, Utah, Avho has resided a number of years 
in that locality and is thoroughly conversant with the characteristics and habits of 
By-a-lil-le and Polly, as well as of their men, expressed the opinion to Captain Wil- 
liard that they were "vicious, bad Indians of the worst type;" that there were none 
more cunning, crafty, or villainous, and that if anything Polly was worse than 
By-a-lil-le, because the former not only incited the Indians to acts of deviltry, l)ut 
did not hesitate to commit them himself. 

Mr. Butler, who has a trading post some 10 miles from Aneth on the road to Four 
Corners, near Polly's hogan, and who has known these Indians for years, regarded 
them as dangerous, and informed Captain Williard that if they had not been surprised 
and captured as they were, they would have "put up a stiff fight." He thought that 
if they had not been arrested they would by spring have .stirred up such trouble and so 
agitated the Black Mountain NUvajos, Piutes, and other Indians that a serious Indian 
war would have resulted. 

The same views were expressed by Charles Fritz, a trader at Four Corners, Utah, as 
those of the other traders above mentioned, and as they are all said to be reliable and 
trustworthy men of many years' experience with the Indians, their opinions are 
regarded as entitled to weight, and for that reason are given as showing the attitude 
of the Indians and the situation up to the time the troops entered southern Utah. 
The views and opinions of these men are corroborated by the statements of other 



AERESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 27 

whites and friendly Indians. The latter have long wished to have these leaders 
removed from the reservation because of their bad characters, threats, and vicious 
habits, and it is said showed delight at learning that they had been arrested and were 
to be sent away. Some, indeed, even urged that By-a-lil-le and Polly be killed, 
because they kept the Indian settlements in a state of constant dread and terror, and 
it was believed that they could cause death by shooting hidden darts into the body 
of a living Indian. About September 1 last a prominent Indian named Do-hi-e died 
after a short illness. Before dying he told his friends that By-a-lil-le was a witch and 
had killed him by shooting darts into his body. For this reason Do-hi-e's friends 
insisted that By-a-lil-le should be put to death or taken out of the country. This 
shows the feeling entertained toward the outlaws by the Navajos who are good, 
friendly, and willing to carry out the plans of the Government for the improvepient 
of their condition and the advancement of their civilization. 

The peaceable and progressive Indians insisted that there was no use in trying in a 
mild way to get these renegades to behave themselves, and asked that soldiers be sent 
into that locality to show the latter that the United States Government is able and 
willing to protect the people who are trying to make an honest living and be self- 
supporting and law-abiding. 

Troops were sent on a peaceful mission to the neighborhood of this hostile band. 
They were under the command of an officer of good judgment and experience. He 
and his fellow-officers considered the situation. It was decided that By-a-lil-le and his 
men should be arrested in order to avoid a serious conflict. Accordingly they made 
a night march upon him and surprised and captured him and his immediate followers 
about daybreak the next morning. The Indian police and Indians accompanying 
the troops were apprehensive that By-a-lil-le had learned of their presence and would 
ambush them. While the arrest of By-a-lil-le and his immediate followers was being 
made the troops were fired upon by other Indians in the vicinity. The horse of Cap- 
tain Williard first sergeant was shot. The troops were ordered to defend themselves 
and returnetJ tie fire, killing two Indians and wounding one. 

The father t De-cla-yaze, one of the Indians killed, visited Superintendent Shelton 
on the 4th in ant and said that he. blamed no one but his son; that the latter had been 
advised and talked with time and again by good people, but had persisted in doing as 
By-a-lil-le had told him; that De-cla-yaze was more than a mile up the river from 
where the Indians were arrested; but when he heard the troops and police pass, fol- 
lowed them down with his gun and opened fire and continued shooting until killed. 

Nah-pa-yaz, the other Indian killed, is reported by the superintendent to have l^een 
"an all around bad man," and aside from By-a-lil-le's immediate band, no regrets have 
been expressed, according to the superintendent's report, that either of these men were 
killed. The wounded Indian is a nephew of By-a-lil-le, and was one of his regular 
bodyguards. The members of the band imder aiTest, as well as a number of Indians 
not arrested, say that By-a-lil-le had told them to be ready always to shoot the soldiers 
or the police if they were intert'ered with. 

The prisoners haV© defied the Government and its authorities; they have impeded 
the progress of other Indians in their efforts to improve and better their condition; 
they armed themselves with modern rifles and ammunition, threatened to kill any per- 
son or persons who molested them, and fired first upon United States troops in the dis- 
charge of their duty. For these and the other reasons above set out, I recommend, 
after consulting with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that all the prisoners 
above-named, except Hosteen-et-so, be transported to Fort Huachua, Ariz., and con- 
fined there for an indefinite period at hard labor, the Indian Office to pay the e x- 
penses of their transportation and subsistence whUe there, as usual in such cases. 

In the case of Hosteen-et-so, I recommend, at the instance of the Commissioner, 
that he, being an old man, be released and permitted to return home from Fort Win- 
gate under promise of future good behavior. 

The other Indian prisoners can be released whenever it may be deemed best to do so, 
each case to be considered on its own merits, the conduct of the prisoner during con- 
finement, and his promise of future good behavior after his return home. 

In conclusion, I commend Captain Williard, the commanding officer, for the tact and 
good judgment displayed in dealing with these Indians, for his success in allaying the 
excitement caused among other Indians by the presence of the troops, and for the 
wholesome advice given them in council after the arrests were made. He has on for- 
mer occasions been charged with the duties of this sort which I am informed he dis- 
charged with credit to himself. 

The other officers and men with the troops on this expedition rendered good service, 
for which they also are to be commended . 

Yery respectfully, • James Rudolph Garfield, 

Secretary. 

The Secretary of War. 



28 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

War Department, 
Washington, November 25, 1907. 
^ Sib: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 22d instant relative to 
the disposal of ten Indians arrested by troops near Aneth, Utah, and advise you that 
the recommendations contained therein will be carried out. 

Thanking you for your commendation of the services performed by the officers and 
men taking part in this expedition, which will be duly communicated to them, 1 
remain, 

Very respectfully, Robert Shaw Oliver, 

Acting Secretary of War. 
f he Secretary of the Interior. 



Washington, December 4, 1907. 

Sir: Referring to previous correspondence in regard to an Indian named By-a-lil-le 
and his band of outlaws on the Navajo Reservation, you are informed that on November 
22 the Secretary of the Interior recommended to the Secretary of War that By-a-lil-le 
and nine other Indians recently arrested by United States troops near Aneth, Utah, 
be transported to Fort Huachucha, Ariz., and confined there for an indefinite period 
at hard labor, with the exception of Hosteen-et-sa, an old man, whose release was 
recommended, with permission to return home. 

The Office is in receipt by departmental reference of a letter dated November 25 
from the Acting Secretary of War advising the Secretary of the Interior that his recom- 
mendations will be carried out. 

Very respectfully, F. M. Conser, Chief Clerk. 

The Superintendent San Juan Indian School, 

Shiprock, N. Mex. 



Department op the Interior, 

Washington, December 14, 1907. 
Sir: On December 11 the Acting Secretary of War returned to the Department of 
the Interior my letter of November 22 referring to previous correspondence in regard 
to the arrest of ten Navajo Indians near Shiprock, N. Mex., and recommending that 
they, except Hosteen-et-so, be confined at hard labor at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., for 
an indefinite period, each case to be considered on its merits for release. He invited 
attention to the fourth indorsement thereon, showing that nine of the Indian prisoners 
ordered transferred to the said fort left Fort Wingate, N. Mex. ,on the 6th instant, under 
guard, for their new place of confinement. 

On the 13th instant I referred the paper to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 
his information and notation of the facts in the case. It is returned herewith, as 
requested in the fifth indorsement thereon. 

Very respectfully, Frank Pierce, 

Acting Secretary. 
The Secretary of War. 



Department of the Interior, 

Washington, February 1, 1908. 
Sir: On January 30, the Acting Secretary of War referred to me a telegram addressed 
to the Adjutant-General of the Army, this city, by the commanding general, Depart- 
ment of the Colorado, saying that it has been decided to release two Navajo prisoners 
at Huachuca at once, one of whom is in an advanced stage of tuberculosis, and 
requesting that he be authorized to turn them over to the Navajo agent at Guad- 
alupe, and that I instruct the agent accordingly. The Acting Secretary asks for an 
expression of my wishes in the premises. 

lit response I have to say that I am perfectly willing to leave the matter to the 
discretion of the War Department. 

The agent will be furnished with copies of the correspondence and directed to coop- 
erate with the commanding officer. 

Very respectfully, Jesse Wilson, 

Assistant Secretary. 
The Secretary of War. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 29 

Washington, February 5, 1908. 

Sir: On January 30 the Acting Secretary of War referred to the Secretary of the 
Interior a telegram addressed to the Adjutant-General of the Army, this city, by the 
commanding general. Department of the Colorado, saying that it had been decided 
to release two Navajo prisoners at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., at once, one of whom is in 
an advanced stage of tuberculosis, and requesting that he be authorized to turn them 
over to you at "Guadalupe" (presumably Gallup) and that the Secretary instruct 
you accordingly. 

On February 1 the Assistant Secretary of the Interior advised the Secretary of War 
that he was perfectly willing to leave the matter to the discretion of the War Depart- 
ment, and that you would be furnished copies of the correspondence and directed to 
cooperate with the commanding officer. 

I inclose a copy of the Assistant Secretary's letter and have to direct that you be 
governed accordingly. 

You will hold the two Navajo prisoners, when they shall have been turned over to 
you, until given final instruction^as to their release. They lived formerly on the north- 
ern part of the Navajo reservation and were under the jurisdiction of the superintendent 
in charge of the San Juan School, and were arrested and taken away because of their 
bad conduct in connection with certain other Indians. It is thought that they should 
not be allowed to return to their old homes lest they should repeat their acts of former 
bad conduct. The good of the service appears to demand that they be required to 
remain on the southern part of the Navajo reservation under your immediate over- 
sight. Their families, if they have any, should be allowed to join them there. The 
office would be pleased to have a report from you in regard to this matter. You are 
requested to coiTespond with Superintendent Shelton, at Shiprock, for further informa- 
tion respecting these prisoners, and as to whether it would be wise to adopt the course 
herein suggested, and make report to the office. 
Very respectfully. 

Acting Commissioner. 
The Superintendent in Charge of Navajo Agency, 

Fort Defiance, Arizona. 



Navajo Indian Agency, 
Fort Defiance, Ariz., February 24, 1908. 
Sir: Mele-yon, aNavajo prisoner referred to in Office letter, Land 7101/1908, File 
175-4 of February 1, reached this agency on February 19 and is kept imder reasonably 
close observation. 

Superintendent Shelton has been notified of this man's arrival at Fort Defiance and 
requested to send over any near relatives of this man who may care to visit him. 
Very respectfully, 

Wm. H. Harrison, Superintendent, 
The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington^!) . C. 



Washngton, March 19, 1908. 

Sir: On March 2 the Office received a letter from the superintendent in charge of 
the Navajo Indian Agency at Fort Defiance, Ariz., saying that Mele-yon, a Navajo 
prisoner referred to in Indian Office letter of February 5, 1908, reached the Navajo 
Agency on February 19; that he has been kept under reasonably close supervision 
and that you have been notified of his arrival and requested to send over any near 
relatives of this man who may care to visit him. 

For your complete information I inclose a copy of said Office letter, from which you 
will observe that it was expected that the War Department would release two Navajo 
prisoners at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. , one of whom was in an advanced stage of tuberculosis 
that the whole matter was left to the discretion of that Department; that the super- 
intendent in charge of the Navajo Agency was instructed to hold the Navajo prisoners 
when turned over to him until given final instructions as to their release; that the 
good of the service appeared to demand that they be required to remain on the 
southern part of the Navajo Reservation, under his immediate oversight, and that he 
was requested to correspond with you for further information concerning the released 
prisoners than that given in said Office letter, and as to whether it would be wise to 
adopt the course therein suggested. 



30 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

As Mele-yon lived formerly on the northern part of the Navajo Reservation and was 
arrested and taken away because of his bad conduct in connection with certain other 
Indians, concerning which action you are thoroughly familiar, you are requested to 
give your views as to keeping him on the southern part of the reservation under the 
immediate oversight of the superintendent of the Navajo Agency. 

No mention is made by the superintendent of the second prisoner. It is therefore 
presumed that he was not released by the War Department. 
Very respectfully, 

C. F. Larrabee, 

Acting Commissioner. 
The Superintendent San Juan Indian School, 

Shiprock, N. Hex. 



San Juan School, 
Shiprock, N. Mex., March 28, 1908. 

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 19th instant 
relative to the disposition to be made of Mele-yon, a Navajo prisoner, who is at pres- 
ent being kept under close supervision of the superintendent of the Navajo Agency 
at Fort Defiance, Ariz., and in which I am requested to give my views as to keeping 
him on the southern part of the reservation. 

In reply I have to say that it is my opinion that should Mele-yon be returned to 
the locality from which he was taken prisoner of war and allowed to go free among 
his people it would create more or less excitement and anxiety among the Indians; 
it would create rumors and gossip among the Indians relative to the other prisoners 
and would cause more or less uneasiness among them. The Indians in that section 
have been very consistent among themselves since the ringleaders of wrongdoing 
,were taken away; they have become loyal to the agency and employees working with 
them. They are showing considerable energy and interest in their welfare, many 
of them have worked the greater part of the winter in repairing and making roads, 
extending their imgation ditches, and working for tools and farm implements; and 
I feel that the return of any of the prisoners would tend to do harm among them. 

For these reasons I would very respectfully request that Mele-yon or anyone of the 
prisoners who may of necessity be released by the War Department be retained on 
the southern part of the reservation and under the immediate oversight of the super- 
intendent in charge of the Navajo Agency. 

Very respectfully, Wm. T. Shelton, 

Superintendent and Special Disbursing Agent. 

The Commissioner of Indian^ Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



Department of the Interior, 

Office of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, April S, 1908. 

Sir: For your information I have to say that the Office is in receipt of a letter dated 
March 28, from the superintendent of the San Juan School, Shiprock, N. Mex., in 
regard to the disposition to be made of Mele-yon, a Navajo prisoner who is at the present 
time under your close supervision. 

The superintendent was requested to give his views as to keeping this prisoner on 
the southern part of the reservation under your immediate oversight, and he ex- 
presses the opinion that should the prisoner be returned to the locality from which he 
was taken and allowed to go free among his people, it would creaie more or less excite- 
ment and anxiety among the Indians ; also rumors and gossip among them relative to 
other prisoners, and to cause more or less uneasiness. He says that the Indians in the 
northern part of the reservation have been very consistent among themselves since the 
ringleaders of wrongdoing were taken away; that they have become loyal to his 
agency and employees working there; that they are showing considerable energy and 
interest in their own welfare ; that many of them have worked the greater part of the 
winter in repairing and making roads, extending their irrigation ditches and working 
for tools and farm implements; and that he feels that the return of any of the Indians 
who were arrested and taken away would tend to do harm among the Indians in the 
northern part of the Navajo Reservation. 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 31 

For these reasons he requests that not only Mele-yon, but any of the prisoners who may 
be of necessity released by the War Department from FortHuachuca, be retained on 
the southern part of the reservation under your immediate oversight. 

I concur in the views of the superintendent and request that you keep the Indian 
above named there under your supervision until otherwise instructed. 

You were advised on February 5 that the commanding general, Department of the 
Colorado, said that it had been decided to release two Navajo prisoners at Fort Hua- 
,chuca, Ariz., at once, one of whom was in an advanced stage of tuberculosis, and that 
he had requested to be authorized to turn them over to you at Gallup, N. Mex. 
You were also advised that the necessary instructions had been given in the premises, 
and you were directed to hold the two Navajo prisoners when turned over to you until 
further instructions. 

It appears from subsequent correspondence in regard to this matter that only one 
prisoner (Mele-yon) has been turned over to you. I wish you would find out and tell 
me what became of the other prisoner. 

Very respectfully, C. F. Larrabee, 

Acting Commissioner, 
The Superintendent in charge of Navajo Agency, 

Fort Defiance, Ariz. 



Navajo Indian Agency, 
Fort Defiance, Ariz., May 7, 1908. 

Sir: Replying to Office letter of April 8, inquiring of the whereabouts of one of the 
prisoners who was taken from the San Juan division of the Navajo Reservation after 
the disturbance there last fall, I have the honor to state that I addressed the command- 
ing officer at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., on this subject, and received in reply the following 
statement under date of April 19: 

"From the records of this office it would appear, although made prisoner, Nick Lee 
was retained at Fort Wingate to be released after the departure of the other nine 
prisoners for Fort Huachuca, Ariz." 

Immediately upon the receipt of the above I addressed the commanding officer at 
Fort Wingate, N. Mex., on the same subject, and received the following reply, under 
date of May 5: 

"In reply to your letter, dated Fort Defiance, Ariz., May 2, 1908, I wish to inform 
you that per instructions from headquarters. Department of the Colorado, dated 
Denver, December 2, 1907, Nick Lee, not Nack Lee, as stated in your letter, was 
released from confinement at this station December 6, 1907, and left the post with 
sufficient rations on the morning of December 7, 1907, for Shiprock, N. Mex. Capt. 
H. O. Williard, Fifth Cavalry, notified me that on his recent trip to Shiprock, N. 
Mex., Superintendent W. T. Shelton informed him about April 27, 1908, that Nick 
Lee was in the vicinity of Shiprock, N. Mex." 

Very respectfully, W. H. Harrison, 

Superintendent. 

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C. 



[From the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1900.] 

A navaho disturbance suppressed. 

Early in November, 1905, the superintendent in charge of the Navaho Agency, 
Ariz., asked by telegram that troops be sent to the agency to prevent threatened 
trouble. In his following explanatory letter he said that a vicious Navaho had, after 
attempting to commit rape, resisted arrest, and had been joined by three other dis- 
reputable and dangerous Navahos; that while he (the superintendent) was at Chin 
Lee these renegades, with about 15 other Navahos from Black Mountains, captured 
him and by threats forced him to agree to the pardon of the Indian who had attempted 
the rape, and that the immediate cause of his request for troops was that he feared 
these renegades would, as threatened, cause more serious trouble at a dance soon to 
be held by friendly Indians. 

At the request of the Department of the Interior, based on a recommendation of 
this Office, the War Department ordered a detachment of troops to the scene, with 
the result that the threatened trouble was averted, and two other disaffected or rene- 



32 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

gade Indian.s were arrested by the Indian police, supported by a small detachment 
of troops. A further result of the presence of the troops was an agreement on the 
part of the leading Navahos to arrest the remaining ringleaders of the disaffected 
Indians. 

On December 7 the superintendent reported by telegram that the six leading Indians 
of the party who attacked him at Chin Lee were in custody, and added that they 
would not be sufficiently punished at the agency. He accordingly recommended that 
they be turned over to the troops and punished' by confinement at hard labor at some 
military prison so far from their home that they would not be able to keep in com- 
munication with their friends. He suggested that three of the ringleaders — Denet 
Lakai, Tol Zhin, and Glahdy — who continued to defy the authorities, be imprisoned 
for two years, and Winslow, Tsosa Begay, and Ush Tilly for one year. He added that 
these prisoners belonged to the vicious, criminal, and worthless clan among their 
people; that the members of their clan had been guilty of the greatest number of 
crimes and misdemeanors committed by the Navahos, and that the suggested pun- 
ishment would be far the best interests of this particular clan and also of the tribe. 

I reported the matter to the Department in letter of December 13, 1905, with the 
recommendation that these Indians be taken by the military authorities to Alcatraz 
Island, California, and punished by confinement at hard labor for the terms suggested 
by the superintendent; and I added: 

"I make this recommendation in one sense with regret, for I am always strongly in 
favor of employing the civil rather than the military agencies of government to execute 
justice among any Indians who are far enough advanced to understand what civil 
authority means when not visibly supported by arms. Among Indians who are citi- 
zens by virtue of accepting allotment I have always insisted that the civil machinery 
alone should be brought into operation for disciplinary purposes, and that the use of 
troops should be only as a posse where the constabulary found itself unable to cope 
with the situation. In the case before us, however, the offending Indians are not only 
noncitizens, but among the most ignorant and lawless people with whom the Office 
has to deal. They live remote from civilization, in a mountainous region almost never 
penetrated by whites because of the perils confronting a stranger there, and have 
always maintained an attitude of contempt toward the Government except when 
faced with the insignia of war. The great body of Navaho Indians, while unprogressive 
in the common acceptation of the term, are friendly and well disposed toward those 
white people who treat them decently. But it is obvious that this particular group 
needs to be taught a lesson which can be administered in no better way than by a 
practical demonstration of the power of the Government to exercise force when it 
becomes necessary to substitute force for gentle methods. The removal of the ring- 
leaders in the recent trouble to a remote point would be surrounded with an atmos- 
phere of mystery likely to be very impressive to those who remain at home. The 
humane treatment of the prisoners, which will be made apparent on their retiu-n, the 
compulsory instruction in labor which all six will receive, and the reports of their own 
experiences and that of their fellow-prisoners which will be brought back by the three 
released after one year's servitude will unquestionably have a great effect throughout 
that part of the reservation as well as upon the victims of discipline themselves. All 
the prisoners will have very interesting stories to tell their friends of the railroads and 
steamboats and populous cities they have seen, and of other wonders calculated to 
convey to the absolutely uiitutored Indian mind its only conception of the number 
and power of the whites; and these will go a long way toward quenching any further 
desire to defy the authority of the Government. I appreciate the fact that from "a 
strictly technical point of view such treatment of offenders is anomalous; but, for that 
matter, so is the reservation system under which the Navahos have been brought up 
to the present time. At the worst, what I have here recommended would be but a 
logical evolution from the existing situation." 

On December 11, 1905, Superintendent Perry reported, further, that since the pris- 
oners had been brought in he had held a council with a large number of Indians from 
Chin Lee and the Black Mountains, at which it was disclosed that two or three years 
ago an Indian by the name of Do Yal Ke, who stayed with his with following at Chin Lee 
during the summer season and in winter in the Keams Canyon division of the Black 
Mountains, ''held up" former Superintendent Burton, of the Moqui Indian School, 
and demanded of him certain things, which it seems he gi-anted them; that Do Yal Ke 
was at Chin Lee when the recent trouble occurred and held a council with the Indians, 
in which he told them about his experience in holding up Superintendent Burton 
and advised them to captm'e Superintendent Perry and compel him to grant their 
request, as Burton had done, adding that if Perry refused they might just as well 
mm-der him, for otherwise troops would siu*ely follow. Superintendent Perry said 
that on learning these facts concerning Do Yal Ke's conduct he had him arrested, 



ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 33 

and recommended that he be sent with the other prisoners to Alcatraz Island and 
severely punished. The Office recommended this course in a letter of December 22, 
and the seven renegade Navahos were accordingly sent under military guard to the 
Alcatraz prison and entered upon their penal terms. 

On May 8, 1906, S. M. Brosius, agent of the Indian Rights Association, wrote to the 
Office that he had learned that five of the prisoners had been in the hospital under 
treatment, and suggested that should it be foun 1 on investigation by the military 
authorities in charge of the prison that the damp climate of San Francisco harbor 
was impairing the health of the Indians they be sent to a more suitable climate to serve 
out the remainder of their sentences. This request was reported to the Department 
on May 19 with recommendation for an investigation. In answer the Assistant Sec- 
retary of War transmitted, under date of June 19, this report from the surgeon at 
Alcatraz Island concerning the physical condition of the Navaho prisoners: 

"These Indians, coming from a dry, salubrious climate to a damp and chilly one, 
are extremely liable to contract respiratory and rheumatic affections. The latter 
class of disease is prevalent around San Francisco Bay, and it is feared that these 
men will contract it, as several have shown slight premonitory symptoms. For this 
reason it is believed that the climate of Arizona or New Mexico would be a preferable 
place for confinement." 

The Office therefore wrote the Department on June 25 last that it was thought 
that it would be unwise to transfer the prisoners to a place near home, like Fort Win- 
gate. Ariz., because there their punishment could not be made so effective; but sug- 
gested, in view of the surgeon's report, that the War Department be asked whether 
or not there was some suitable post in southern New Mexico or Arizona to which they 
could be removed. 

On a visit to the Pacific coast in July, I went to see the prisoners at Alcatraz Island, 
and was impressed with the desirableness of sending them to a higher altitude and 
drier climate, and so wrote the Office, informally. 

The War Department having responded that either Fort Apache or Fort Huachuca, 
Ariz., was available, the Office, in a letter of July 27 to the Department, suggested 
Fort Huachuca. as it appeared to be better situated for the retention of the prisoners, 
and on August 7 the Acting Secretary of War wrote to this Office that the necessary 
instructions had been issued to the commanding general of the Pacific division. 

DISTURBANCES AMONG THE HOPI. 

Although the incident is still incomplete, so mtich has been said in the public press 
about the recent disturbance at the Hopi mesa of Oraibi, Ariz., that it seemed to me 
to call for a few lines in this report. 

A factional warfare has been in progress for a number of years between two groups 
of these Indians familiarly styled the "' Hostiles' ' and the " Friendlies. ' ' The Hostiles 
comprise the ultraconservative element in the tribe, and their colloquial title has 
been given them because of their extreme opposition to the intrusion of white civili- 
zation. On the other hand, the liberal element have come to be known as the Friendly 
faction because it has not taken the same stand. Just how far the attitude of either 
party was due originally to its hatred or tolerance of Caucasian ideals is open to ques- 
tion. It is believed by not a few persons who know these Indians well that their 
division grew wholly out of the internal political dissensions of the tribe; that one 
of the factions conceived the device of declaring itself friendly to the United States 
Government, not because it felt so especially, but because it believed that by such 
a declaration it could win the favor of the Government and obtain an in\'incible ally 
in its struggle with the other faction; and that the tactical effect of this move was 
to force the opposition into an attitude of hostility toward the Government by way 
of keeping up something to quarrel about. I, for one, cherish no illusions as to the 
meaning of the professions of good will on the part of the Friendly faction. The 
Friendlies, deep down in their hearts, are Indians still, with the Indian instinctive 
dislike of our manners and customs as well rooted in them as it is in the Hostiles; 
but for strategic purposes, and with a larger sense of prudence than the Hostiles, the 
Friendlies have accepted th( overtures of the Government, outwardly at any rate, 
and to that extent command official encouragement and approval, just as, in ordinary 
warfare, a mercenary who does what is expected of him stands on a wholly different 
footing from the enemy, although sentimentally he may be no more attached to the 
cause for which he is fighting. 

Whatever may have been its origin, the situation at Oraibi has assumed within the 
last few months a phase too serious to be ignored. I have heard a good deal of what 
was going on, and, having known the Hopi Indians for some ten years, I was inclined 
to listen with caution to the stories brought to me, until I visited Oraibi last summer 

S. Doc. 517, 6C-1 3 



34 • ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

and held a council with the Indians on their mesa. I was convinced by the condi- 
tions I found there that before long it would become necessary for the Government 
to show its strong hand and bring the Hostile party sharply to terms. This would l)e 
in order to prevent such a spread of the spirit of defiance of and contempt for the Fed- 
eral authority as might breed violence and possibly bloodshed. 

No one who does not know these Indians can have any conception of their crass 
ignorance and superstition. In a protracted colloquy with the chief of the hostile 
faction, after ha\-ing exhausted all the milder arguments to show him the folly of longer 
resisting the inroads of ci\ilization. I pointed out to him how much his people really 
owed to that very Government which he took such pains to decry and deride. I 
dwelt upon the patience the Government 'has shown in continuing its efforts to help 
him and his people in spite of their malevolence, and then asked him if he realized 
how swiftly and surely disaster would come upon tliem all if their powerful benefac- 
tor at Washington should withdraw its protecting hand. I pointed out to him how 
white and Mexican adventurers would pour into that country and swarm over the 
little holdings of the Indians; how the taxgatherer would swoop down upon their 
fields and their flocks and their crops, and how the authorities of the Territory would 
enforce the compulsory school law by not only carrying off the children to where 
they would receive the hated teachings of the whites, but fining and imprisoning 
the parents for neglecting their duty toward their offspring. I dwelt on the generous 
purposes of the Government, as demonstrated in its placing the little day school at 
the foot of his mesa, where the children could get the rudiments of learning without 
being sent away from home; on the way, when the taxgatherer came, the Govern- 
ment threw its shield over his people, insisting that until they were better educated 
they should be spared from paying any tribute toward maintaining the civic 
machinery; on the manner in which intrusions upon their lands had been met by 
their great patron, the intruders driven off, and every possible assistance given them 
to hold their own against further aggression. And in conclusion I put the question 
fairly to him: W^at would happen to the Oraibis if this powerful friend of theirs 
slioidd become disgusted with their contemptuous and inimical demonstrations, close 
out its interests in the school and the agency, turn its back upon them, and leave them 
to their fate? 

With a sneer the chief responded that such talk was all nonsense; that he had heard 
it many times before, but nothing came of it; that his people did not wish anything 
to do with the whites; that their fathers had warned them not to let their children 
go to school and learn white ways; that he intended to follow the advice of the fathers 
rather than of Washington, and that if his people got into any trouble they would be 
rescued by their "white brother who lives in the far east where the sun rises" — • 
Montezuma. No logic or satire that I could summon to my assistance availed to shake 
his faith or the faith of the people behind him in the Montezuma myth and their 
assurance of the second coming of their Messiah whenever they needed him. Even 
when I reminded the old man that his people had no means of notif jdng Montezuma 
of their distress, he answered with sublime complaisance: " Washington will tell him!" 

Of course it is useless to try to reason with anyone so absolutely bound up in supersti- 
tious ignorance as to argue thus in a vicious circle. It is with the purpose of empha- 
sizing the hopelessness of attempting to meet such a situation with moral forces alone 
that I have given this brief review of the talk at the council. I took pains, however, to 
impress upon all the Indians whom I met on my visit to Oraibi that the Government 
intended that their children should have the opportunity to learn the simple lessons 
taught at the little day school, and that even their parents had no right to deprive the 
young people of what was a practical necessity of their lives now that they must, willy 
nilly, come into contact with white people. I explained that I had no purpose of forc- 
ing the higher branches of learning upon any of the Indians against their will, but that, 
as surely as the sun rose, just so surely would I compel, by all the means at my disposal, 
a recognition of the needs of the children and of their right to their A B C's and enough 
knowledge of numbers to enable them to take care of themselves in an ordinary trade. 
I told them that this was precisely what was required of the white people; that the 
laws past by the Great Council at Washington, called the Congress, clothed me with 
authority to make rules of a similar sort for the Indians; and that I intended to carry 
out this law at any cost, not only because it was law, but because it was right and the 
only fair thing for the children whom it was my special duty to protect. The children, 
I ought to add here in passing, seem fond of the school, and some even run away from 
home to attend it when their parents object. 

One Indian, with whom I conversed longer than with any other, was the Friendly 
chief. The circumstances were somewhat peculiar, and, as will be seen, not con- 
ducive to a satisfactory mutual understanding. The council on the mesa was held 
in the open air on a moonless night in the plaza of the pueblo. Descending the trail, 



AREESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIEES. . 35 

I noticed that I was "shadowed"' by three men. evidently Indians, Twho kept out 
of my way as long as anyone else was within speaking distance, but as soon as I was 
alone drew nearer. As I entered my room, which was in a little ell of the principal 
cottage at the foot of the mesa, the three men pushed in after me, and on striking a 
light I found my visitors to be the Friendly chief and two of his supporters. 
One of the two volunteered to act as interpreter, and informed me that the chief 
wished to ask me a few questions when no white men and no Hostiles were within 
hearing. The first was, Where had I come from? I answered that I was from Wash- 
ington. What was my position? Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in charge of the 
people of his race all over the country. For what purpose had I come to Oraibi? 
To see with my own eyes the condition of the Oraibi Indians — how they were living, 
how the white employees of the Government were taking care of them, and so on. 
How long was I going to stay? I should leave probably the next day. Had I come 
to settle the quarrel between the Hostiles and the Friendlies? No; for that would 
take a longer time than I could spare then; and, moreover, I had been in hope that, 
like white people who had differences, they would get together, talk things over, 
and settle their troubles among themselves, instead of falling back, like so many 
little children, upon the Government. When was I going to remove the Hostiles 
from Oraibi, send them away to some distant place to live, and divide their land 
and other property among the Friendlies? I was not contemplating ever doing this. 
They knew better, for Superintendent Lemmon had told them this was what I was 
going to do; and now, how soon was I going to start the business? I thought they were 
mistaken; they had doubtless misunderstood Mr. Lemmon, who. I was sure, would 
not have transcended his authority by telling them that I was going to do so-and-so 
until I had settled on the plan and instructed him to announce it. No, indeed; 
they had not misunderstood Mr. Lemmon, he knew what Washington was going to 
do, and he had told them this again and again; if I didn't know it, that showed that 
I didn't know what Washington was about; so why did I say that I was from Wash- 
ington and had charge of the Indians, when I was ignorant of this programme? 

At this point I fear I further lost caste by letting my risibles get the better of my 
dignity. My visitors regarded my laughter with some astonishment and put the 
question again. I assured the chief that he would learn soon enough who I was and 
whether I was telling him the truth; that meanwhil ite would be safe for him to accept 
my statement so far as to avoid any needless friction with the hostiles, but to con- 
duct himself ■wdth such forbearance as would comport with his position of chief; and 
that when I returned to Washington I would consider the situation very carefully and 
do whatever it seemed to demand for the best interest of all the Indians concerned. 
He wished to know whether I was not going to punish the hostiles in some way. I 
answered that resistance to the reasonable requirements of the Government would 
always call for discipline, but that this would be administered for specific acts, and 
not out of any malignant spirit toward the hostiles, for whom the Government had 
no hatred, but only pity for their ignorance and folly. He repeated his reference to 
the alleged Government plan for driving out the hostiles and dividing their estate 
among the friendlies, adding this time that the hostiles had grown steadily more 
aggressive and increased in numbers because of the Government's inaction, and that 
unless I took some steps to punish the hostiles and show my appreciation for the 
friendlies there would presently be no friendlies left. 

I told him that that remark indicated a rather poor basis for the friendliness of his 
faction; that among white people a friend was one we loved and who loved us. without 
any hope of reward on either side: and that we always tried to be scrupulously just 
even to our enemies and kind to the helpless. By way of illustration of the white 
attitude, I told him about the Black Mountain Navahos who had been sent to prison 
for inciting riot, and about how I had gone into their country and called their people 
together and warned the well-behaved to avoid doing anything to injure the innocent 
families of thf convicts, but to try to be as merciful as possible to these unfortunates, 
because they were not accountable for the wrongdoing of the men the Government 
had been obligfd to punish. This view of the subject did not seem to interest the 
chief overmuch; his heart was set on the question of how to get rid of the hostiles, 
and he soon took his leave with a rather discouraged air. 

Before I left the neighborhood, and after considerable discussion of the situation 
with the most intelligent white persons thereabout, I reached the conclusion that, 
much as such a resort is always to be deplored. I should probably have nothing 
left for me this season but to make a demonstration with troops which would con- 
vince the ringleaders of the hostile faction that they could gain nothing by further 
hostility. 

But a crisis was reached prematurely. On the 7th of September, 1906. about the 
time we were preparing to open the Oraibi day school, the two factions came actually 



36 . ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

to a physical struggle. 1 have had the matter investigated as well as practicable, 
and from all the testimony thus far elicited I deduce this general outline of the inci- 
dent — subject, of course, to modification after a more elalx:)rate inquiry shall have 
been made. It appears that the chief of the friendly faction, whose following was 
numerically only about one-half of the other faction, "had received private informa- 
tion of a plot to assassinate him. A good while ago a group of Hopis of the village 
of Shimopovi in active sympathy with the hostile party at Oraibi, had removed to 
Oraibi and taken up their residence there. This was done in utter disregard of the 
fact, perfectly well known to them, that there were not land and water enough in 
the agricultural area cultivated by the Oraibi Indians to support well any larger 
population than was already there. The hostiles of Oraibi naturally welcomed 
the immigrant contingent, as it promised to swell the hostile multitude there and 
increase its power in its conflict with the friendlies; whereas the friendlies were 
correspondingly irritated by it. for reasons easily understood. 

The Shimopovis not only took possession of a share of the Friendly property to 
which they had no claim, l)ut appear to have become a doubly disturbing element in 
the local factional quarrel. Indeed, the Friendly chief seems" to have understood the 
plot against his life to be a Shimopo\i rather than an Oraibi scheme. He resolved 
therefore to put the Shimopovis out of the Orail)i village. On the morning of Septem- 
ber 7 he gathered his followers at his house, armed and prepared for fight. In some 
way the news leaked out, the Hostiles got ready, and the employees of the school 
received a hint of trouble impending. They at once repaired, in company with the 
field matron and one or two other interested whites, to the mesa top, where they 
visited the Friendly gathering and insisted that, whatever the Friendlies might do, no 
weapons should l)e used. They volunteered also to visit the Hostiles and serve the 
same notice upon them. The Friendlies consented after some consideration, but 
admonished the whites that time was fl>4ng and that whatever business they trans- 
acted with the Hostiles must he made as brief as possible. 

The whites repaired to the house where the Hostiles were gathered and warned them 
also against the use of weapons. While they were still addressing the meeting the 
Friendly chief and his followers arrived — unarmed, as good faith demanded — and 
requested the whites to withdraw. When the Indians were left to themselves, as 
nearly as can be ascertained the Friendly chief gave the Shimopovi immigrants notice 
that they were no longer wanted in Oraibi and must quit the village at once. The 
Hostile chief responded that he had instructed his Oraibi followers to stand liy their 
friends, the Shimo})ovi Hostiles, and protect them. The Friendly chief retorted that 
any of the Oraibi Hostiles who cast their lot with the Shimopo\-is would have to go 
also when the Shimopovis went. 

Thereupon the Friendlies set about cleai'ing the village of Shimopovis. They 
began on the very spot where they then stood ; but every Friendly who laid hold of a 
Shimopovi to put him out of doors was attacked from behind by an Oraibi Hostile, so 
that the three went wrestling and struggling out of the door together. It was a very 
vigorous clash, though only hands and feet were used and no weapons drawn on either 
side. The Friendlies were not particular as to how they disposed of their enemies, 
but clutched them by their clothing or their extremities or their hair, as might be 
most convenient. When they had cleared that house they made a circuit of the rest. 
The evicted Hostiles were driven to a point outside of the village and herded and 
guarded there. 

The present Hostile chief is a usurper and has maintained his authority among his 
followers by the same means resorted to by leaders of superstitious mobs ever since the 
world began — ^getting up dreams and omens and prophecies to order and distorting all 
the commonest events of life into fulfillments of his prognostications. Consistent to the 
last, he went about on this fateful day with a complacent air, declaring to his people that 
all that they were passing through now was but a fulhllment of a prophecy which had 
said that one or the other party would eventually be driven off the mesa forever, and 
that the decision of who should go and who should stay was to hinge upon the ability 
of one party to push the other across a certain line which should be drawn on the 
ground. A tug of war of very primitive character then ensued, and the Friendly party, 
representing only about one-third of the tribe, actually succeeded in pushing the 
Hostile party, comprising the other two-thirds across the established line. This settled 
the business, and the Hostiles withdrew to a place in the desert, about 5 miles distant, 
where there is good water, and encamped. 

Meanwhile the whites had induced the victorious Friendlies to permit the Hostiles 
to return to the village, in gi-oupsof three at a time, long enough to gather up food and 
clothing. Of course the very old Hostiles, the babies, and the women soon to become 
mothers have lieen the chief sufferers from the exposure and discomforts of camp 
life. I am now taking measures to relieve the immediate necessities of the sick 



ARRESTS BY UXITED STATES SOLDIERS. 37 

and helpless, and have endeavored to break the spell which l)inds the Hostile fac- 
tion to their usurper chief by notifying them that any of their number who feel 
disposed to forsake their folly, become loyal to the Government, and pledge them- 
selves to be peaceable, may' return to Oraibi, the Government guaranteeing them 
read mission. 

Some signs of weakening have shown themselves in the Hostile ranks, but not enough 
to encourage a hope of their general dissolution. The problem presents some most 
unusual phases. The office has been emV^arrassed by other necessities of the service 
which have prevented its sending to Oraibi the particular inspecting ofticers most 
competent to cope with conditions like these described. This has delayed proceed- 
ings considerably, but I have felt that it would be better to go slow and make fewer 
mistakes than to plunge in and attempt to straighten out a tangle which might only 
be made worse through an error of hasty judgment. All that I can do. therefore, for 
this report is to rehearse the preliminaries as I have been able to make them out from 
the testimony now before the Office, without venturing to make pul)licthe alternative 
plans which I have under consideration, to be pursued according to the way the situa- 
tion develops on closer scrutiny and more satisfactory analysis. 

[From the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.] 

THE UPHEAVAL AT OR.\IBI. 

The troubles between the two factions known as the " friendlies" and the " hostiles" 
in the Hopi pueblo of Oraibi in Arizona were not settled at the time my last report 
was made. Their differences, political and religious, had culminated in the forcible 
but bloodless eviction of the local hostile party and their sympathetic visitors from 
Shimopovi by the friendlies in the early days of September. 19U(i. 

Though no anus and so little tmnecessary violence were used in the final act of this 
little drama, one or two hostiles were slightly hurt in the scutfie. For them, and a few 
others who fell ill later, a temporary hospital was established in one of the Indian 
houses on the mesa. Every effort was made also to reduce the conditions in the hostile 
camp to tlie normal state of comfort known to these. Indians by allowing any who 
wished to return to tlieir old dwellings and l)ring away such provisions and other 
belongings as they needed. The site chosen for the camp was remote enough front the 
pueblo to avert atiy iuimediate danger of further physical conflict between the factions. 

Authority was granted to the stiperintendent in charge for the temporary employ- 
ment of 25" Navaho police should their services be necessary. Pending the arrival 
of a representative of the Office, the superintendent was directed to ascertain how 
many of the hostiles would be willing to cut loose from the leadership of the chief 
agitators and return to the mesa or to some point near by under pledge no longer to 
resist the authority of the Government; to warn the friendlies not to molest the hostiles 
who behaved peaceably: to reopen the day scliool at Oraibi as soon as practicable, and 
to see that all children living in or near the pueblo were placed in school, the parents 
having the privilege of choice as between the day school, the boarding school at Reams 
Canyon, and any others open to Hopi cliildren. 

Meanwliile, on my personal knowledge of the nature and attitude of the Hopis 
obtained during ten years" acquaintance with them in their own country, confirmed 
or luoditied by consultation with a number of other persons on the ground who were 
familiar with "the Hopis and cognizant of the facts in the Oraibi affair, I formulated a 
programme to be pursued, with such minor changes in detail as current developments 
might render expedient. This programme was discussed with the President and the 
Secretary of the Interior, and carried into effect with their approval. Its chief fea- 
tures may be set forth seriatim thus: 

"(1) That the Shimopovi intruders, who appear to have stirred up all the latest 
trouble, who never had any rights in the Oraibi pueblo, and who by abusing them 
have forfeited even the pri^-ileges of courtesy, be ordered to return to their own pueblo 
instantly ; 

"(2) That the Oraibi hostiles, except the chief agitators Yu-ke-o-ma and Ta-wa- 
hong-ni-wa, be permitted to return for the winter to Oraibi, on their pledge of peace- 
able conduct, and a like pledge to be exacted from the friendlies that they shall be 
kindly treated; this to be understood as only a temporary arrangement to prevent 
suffering during the approaching winter, as the rest of the programme -nnll be worked 
out by the Government before spring: 

"(3) That Yu-keo-ma and Ta-wa"-hong-ni-wa be allowed to take their personal 
effects from Oraibi, including the season's crops, and to give these to their families 
for subsistence; but themselves to be notified that, as disturbers and inciters of their 
people to resistance of the Government, they must leave the Hopi country at once; 



38 ARRESTS BY "UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

their refusal, or their return after removal, to be punished by imprisonment at hard 
labor; 

"(4) That the ringleaders in the riots at Shimopovi early in the last school year be 
removed under arrest and confined in a military prison at hard labor, for such terms, 
in no case less than one year, as their respective offenses seem to justify; 

"(b) That in announcing to Yu-ke-o-ma the decree of the Government in his case 
he be reminded that I reasoned earnestly with him last summer at the night council 
on the Oraibi plaza, and tried in a friendly way to show him the folly of his course, 
and that his only response was an insolent defiance; and that, in now turning for 
help to the same Government which he has always scoffed at, derided, and urged his 
people to resist, he is playing the part of a coward instead of a manly foe; 

"(6) That any other persons besides the two hostile chief agitators already men- 
tioned by name, and the ringleaders in the Shimopovi riots, who may, on later inves- 
tigation by the Indian Office, be con\-icted of habitual trouble making, be imprisoned 
or banished; 

•'(7) That Ta wa quap te wa, the chief of the friendly faction, be allowed to retain 
h^s priestly orders, but be deposed from his political chiefship until he has fitted him- 
self by accjuiring enough knowledge of English to be able to speak and understand fairly 
the language of the Government of our country and the laws for the instruction and 
guidance of the people he aspires to rule, and that for this purpose he be given his 
choice between a local school and a nonreservation school ; 

"(8) That the whole Oraibi populace be notified that the Government intends 
to have their children sent to school somewhere, just as all white communities are re- 
quired by their governments to send their children to school somewhere, till they 
have learned enough to take care of themselves properly and to start them on the road 
to citizenship; that they be given a free choice between sending their children to the 
day school or sending them to Keams Canyon, and that when they have decided this 
point, their decision be duly attested and themselves compelled to hold to it in good 
faith, so that the children shall not be continually shifting about; 

"(9) That like notice be given and the same option extended at Shimopovi; 

"(10) That at both villages the parents who refuse to send their children to the 
day school be considered to hav^ elected in favor of Keams Canyon , but that the officer 
to whom is assigned the task of obtaining their decisions be not anyone connected regu- 
larly with Keams Canyon School, as this whole business must be kept free from even 
the suspicion of unfairness or needless duress, the only compulsory feature of it any- 
where being the demand that every child shall be given some schooling one place or 
another; 

"(11) That especial pains be taken to make all the Indians understand that the 
Government has reached the limit of its patience with the old way of handling such 
matters, and that hereafter the Indians must conduct themselves reasonably like 
white people, or be treated as white people are treated who are forever quarreling 
and fighting among themselves; 

"(12) That until normal conditions are restored and in the opinion of the Govern- 
ment it will be safe to let the Indians control once more their own domestic affairs, 
the pueblo of Oraibi be governed by a commission consisting of the teacher in charge 
of the day school, who shall preside, the old judge who represents the friendly faction 
in the local Indian court, and a judge chosen fn)m the hostile faction by the superin- 
tendent or inspecting officer who may be in charge of the reservation at the time this 
programme goes into operation ; 

"(13) That regular troops be sent to Oraibi to preserve order while the foregoing 
arrangements are in progress, and to make arrests as indicated here or as directed 
by the superintendent or inspecting officer in charge: 

"(14) That immediate steps be taken, by administrative measures under existing 
laws or by procuring new legislation if that be necessary, looking toward the early 
allotment of land in severalty to the Hopis." 

At the time of the troubles all our inspecting officers were engaged in other impor- 
tant work from which they could not bp withdrawn without serious prejudice to the 
interests involved; but the services of Supervisor Reuben Perry became free about 
the middle of October, and he was detailed to execute the policy outlined above. 
In the meantime, the teachers, field matron, and other employees in the Oraibi dis- 
trict had sought by argument and kindly persuasion to bring the hostiles to an appre- 
ciation of their situation and the injiuy they were doing themselves by holding out 
against the Government. These efforts availed nothing, for when the supervisor 
arrived he found the Indians in the same unyielding attitude. By orders from the 
War Department, Troops H and K of the Fifth Cavalry, under command of Capt. 
Lucius R. Holbrook and Lieutenant Lewis, were placed at the service of the Office 
and reached the village on October 27. The next morning all the male Indians 



ARRESTS BY I'XITEP STATES SOLDIERS. 39 

were assembled at the sclioolhouse to hear what Washington had to say and to 'accept 
or reject the proposals offered. As far as the hostiles were concei'ned, the result 
confirmed the wisdom of having troops at hand. Although Mr. Perry patiently and 
laboriously set before tliem the benevolent purposes of the Government and the 
absence of any intention on its part to interfere with the religion of the Indians or 
their customs except where these came into collision with the law of the land, they 
remained, to a man, stubbornly resistant. 

Yu ke o ma and Ta wa hong ni wa. indeed, renewed and persisted in a demand, 
which they had made from the beginning of the troubles, that the friendly chief should 
be beheaded and they and their followers retm-ned by force to Or'aibi. It was obvious, 
as I had foreseen in making up my programme, that no impression could be'made upon 
the great mass of theii- followers as long as they remained where then- advice could be 
heard and heeded . They were therefore publicly deposed fr(5m their usurped authority 
and at once arrested, together with 27 of the most conspicuous mischief-makers^ 
including 12 Shimopovis — placed under guard, and taken to Keams Canon. There 
their cases were individually considered, and, according to the tlagrancy of their 
respective misconduct, they received, with twelve exceptions, sentences to confine- 
ment at hard labor for terms ranging from one to tlu'ee years. The exceptions were one 
aged man, who was regarded as too infu-m for such punishment, and eleven at the 
other extreme of life who were, on account of their youth and apparently to their own 
great relief, ordered to go to school instead of to prison. They expressed a preference 
for Carlisle, and were accordinglv sent there, in care of Lieutenant Lewis, as soon as 
the necessary arrangements could be made. After Yu ke o ma and Ta wa hong ni wa 
had had a brief taste of the punishment decreed for theh colleagues, they were set free 
with a warning not to return to their old haunts. I am in hope that before the others — 
who have since been transfen-ed to Fort Huachuca — are released and return, the tribe 
as a whole will have so far advanced in appreciation of the authority of the Govern- 
ment, if not of its good purposes toward them, that ignorant agitation and blind sub- 
servience to senseless leadership will have become less the settled rule among them. 

Indeed, it was plain, from the hour of the removal of the ringleaders in disturliance, 
that a part of the spell they had exercised over the rest had been broken; for at a later 
meeting, under encouragement of the super^^sor to be more like men and think and 
act for themselves, 25 hostiles forsook the recalcitrant band and signed an agreement 
to obey the law of the land, let their children go to school, and live in peace with their 
neighbors. Thereupon they were sent back to Oraibi under a guaranty of right treat- 
ment by the friendlies in occupation there. Of the rest, 53 renewed their declaration 
of hostility to the Government and were placed luider arrest: and upon these, and 20 
more who were arrested the next day, a sentence of ninety days at hard labor on the 
roads of the reservation was imposed. 

Immediately after the arrests the children were gathered in, those whose parents 
consented being placed in a local day school, and 117 others sent to Keams Canyon. 
They not only did not shed any tears, but seemed much pleased to go. This was most 
gi-atifying; since, but for the sake of these little ones and the responsibility, both moral 
and legal, resting upon me to see that they should have their chance in life as our own 
children have theirs, I should not have deemed it worth while to attempt anything 
more at this time than to put a quietus upon the quarrel between their elders. The 
simplest humanity, however, demanded such intervention as I made in the children's 
behalf, where their parents were so utterly devoid of foresight or reason with regard to 
their fundamental interests. 

\\'ith the removal of the long-sentence prisoners from Keams Canyon to Fort Wingate, 
we were able to dispense with the services of the troops on the reservation. And I wish, 
before closing this chapter of a unique story, to record thus publicly, as I have already 
in my formal official ctnTespondence, my appreciation of the fine handling of their work 
by the military contingent. The sympathetic yet discreet counsels of the commanding 
officer. Captain Holbrook, and the admirable discipline of the men, contributed in the 
largest measm'e to the successful issue of a very delicate and difficult undertaking. 

At the outset of this wh<ile complicated business it was assumed that the hostiles 
evicted from Oraibi would Ijuild another village somewhere: and my purpose was not 
only to let them choose its site for themselves but to lend them such encom'agement 
and aid as I could consistently with the other plans in hand. In addition, I was going 
to give the new village a day school of its own, if the Indians would make use of it in 
good faith, either under compulsion or otherwise. Or, in case later the two factions 
ccmld be brought to tolerate each other as neighbors and settle down in peace together 
in the old pueblo, it was my wish to help them improve the place, and I should have 
increased the capacity of the present day scho(-)l to the point of accommodating all the 
children. Other projects for their welfare are under consideration, one of them being 
a hospital to be erected by private munificence and run on a cooperative plan. 



40 ARRESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 

But all these matters had to be pushed aside to make way for the immediate needs 
(ti the hour and the still difficult disposition of the Indians. The women and children 
were provided with temporary but comfortable quarters for the winter at their camp 
at Hotevilla. The 25 men who had renounced their active hostility were kept busy 
during the fall with their crops; and the group who were working out their ninety 
days' sentence on the roads could not. for obvious reasons, have their occupation 
changed to village building among their relatives and friends. By the expiration 
of their term it was time to fall to upon the preparation of the new season's crops. 
Jvist before their release 6 of their number agreed to the Government's terms and were 
permitted to take their children with them and go back to Oraibi, where the little 
ones could "attend the day school. The children of the others were not allowed to 
go home for vacation, as it would have been practically impossible to recover them 
if they had once been out of the Government's custody while the parents continued 
actively hostile. I may add that during their period of enforced labor the prisoners, 
among other things, built 15 miles of new road out of Keams canyf)n in the direction 
of Holbrook, which shortened the distance to the agency several miles and added 
greatly to the safety of travel. I went over it myself last siunmer and was greatly 
impressed by its workmanlike appearance. While they w^ere still thus employed 
I submitted tio them a proposition which had been laid before me for their further 
employment in the beet fields at Rocky Ford, Colo., but they refused to consider it, 
notwithstanding the pecuniary proht which such a contract would have brought 
them. Acceptance, of course, would have meant an absence of some months, a 
dreaded association with new and strange people, their adoption to some extent of 
the white man's habits and their subjection to his laws. 

With the release of the prisoners, the superintendent recommended that souk^ one 
repreesenting the Government be stationed at Hotevilla. He was therefore author- 
ized to employ a policeman, and one of the now loyal hostiles was appointed to the 
position and appears to be doing his duty creditably. I went to the "hostile" camp, 
so called, while I was at Oraibi in May last, and was pleased with what I saw. It 
deserves its designation as a camp, as distinguished from a new pueblo, only liecause 
the houses are separate and more or less scattered, instead of being built against or on 
top of each other like the cumulative chambers of a wasp's nest. It is a more whole- 
some and generally better arrangement, and I entertain some hope that this style of 
building will presently supplant the old style in the preference of the people. Al- 
though rather more roughly put together than the pueblo houses, the new dwellings 
appear pretty comfortable, and their inhabitants as contented as could reasonably be 
expected under existing conditions. 

I have devoted so much space to the conduct and fate of the hostiles that I seem 
almost in danger of overlooking what has occurred in the friendly faction. While 
Yu-ke-o-ma was spitting defiance at the Government and calling for the head of his 
victorious foeman, the latter was proving his greater intelligence and worldly wisdom 
by accepting the inevitable with as good grace as the rather trying imposition upon 
himself would permit. The idea of going to school at the age of thirty-odd years was 
not attractive, naturally, to Ta-wa-quap-te-wa; but he promptly set his followers an 
example of confidence in the Government, merely asking the privilege of taking his 
wife and family with him and retaining his Indian costume and long hair. This 
request I granted the instant it was submitted to me, although, as far as I am aware, 
the concession was unique in the annals of our school service. Frank Se-wen-imp- 
te-wa, the prospective governor of the Moencopi Hopis, who had got himself involved 
in the turmoil at Oraibi, although it was none of his business, was granted a similar 
privilege, and both men chose the training school at Riverside, Cal., for their alma 
mater. It required some overhaiding of the local arrangements and some revision of 
the rules to accommodate this oddly assorted party; but Superintendent Hall showed 
no symptoms of panic at the prospect of the innovation, and, as usual, proved himself 
equal to the emergency. Quarters were prepared, and in a little while the visiting 
public were treated to the unusual spectacle of two Indian chiefs and their entire 
families gathered in an institution of learning to prepare them for treading together 
the road to civilization. 

The wisdom of sending these families to school was confirmed at once. Within a 
few days after his arrival at Riverside, Ta-wa-quap-te-wa voluntarily presented him- 
self to be shorn of his braids, and asked for a hat and a uniform like those which 
the other pupils wore. About twenty of the friendly children had been sent by 
their parents to Riverside with the chief; and a few weeks ago I gave the superin- 
tendent authority to let him return to Oraibi as a recruiting agent for the school. 
How well he is getting on with his studies is evidenced by the fact that he can write 
letters home; and when I was at the school in June he sought me out and exchanged 
a few sentences of conversation with me in very intelligible English. During the 



^D 1.4 8 r^ 



AERESTS BY UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. 43 

summer vacation he^has found emplojonent on one of the fruit farms near Riverside 
at^first-class wages ; and the last I heard of him he was inquiring the price of a second- 
hand bicycle, having in mind the saving of tune he could accomplish by riding to 
and from his work every day. And this is the Indian whom 1 described in my last 
year's report as shadowing me down the mesa trail after my starlight council with the 
hostiles of the pueblo, and holding a midnight conference with me at my quarters, 
with the necessary aid of an interpreter. 

Yet Ta-wa-quap-te wa's path has not been wholly thornless, even since he adopted 
the new order so completely. After reaching Riverside he of course continued to 
feel an interest in home affairs; it presently came to light that he had delegated his 
brother to act as chief during his absence, and, probably because^of appeals from his 
representative had sought to direct matters in the village by correspondence. Now 
this was not according to my progi'amme. The government of Oraibi 1 had placed in 
the hands of a commission, and it seems that the actions of the friendly judge who 
was serving on this commission did not always please some of the friendly faction. 
Investigation proved, however, that the very reasons they assigned for urging his 
removal were the best ones in the world for keeping him in office. It was thought 
wise, therefore, for the supervisor to take a representative from Oraibi to Riverside 
to talk things over with Ta-wa-quap-te- wa. This stroke of diplomacy did the business. 
The conference soon reached an understanding as to the status of the governing body, 
and the interference of the school -going chief came to an end. 

In concluding this bit of history I would say that Supervisor Perry, who dealt with 
the trying crisis at Oraibi as my representative and straightened out the tangles on the 
civil side of it, was in constant and close communication with me all the time by wire. 
He was cautioned throughout against any measures which would bring unnecessary 
hardship upon the poor, benighted creatures with whom we had to deal; to keep the 
situation always firmly in hand, but never to force it; to induce submission rather than 
reduce the Indians to it; to repeat to the hostiles, whenever occasion offered, my mes- 
sage that the Government was their best friend, was trying to help and not to hurt'them, 
and had no vengeful feeling for anything that was past, but would welcome them as 
cordially as the friendlies to its care when they got ready to come; to exact from the 
friendlies just and fair treatment of the hostiles, and to make everyone understand that 
the Government took no sides in the local quarrels over religious matters, but that 
Washington's platform was simply peace, education, and conformity to law. These 
instructions Mr. Perry appears to have carried out in both letter and spirit. 

NAVAJO PRISONERS. 

In my last report I gave an account of the suppression of a disturbance among the 
Navajo Indians by the arrest of seven men involved in an insuiTcctionary attempt, and 
their imprisonment at hard labor on Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Harbor. Aiter a 
few months' confinement there I felt some fear that the dampness of the climate, to 
which they were wholly unaccustomed, might affect their health, and had them trans- 
ferred to Fort Huachuc'ha, in Arizona. 

On October 12, 1906, the one-year sentences of Winslow, Tsosa Begay, and Ush 
Tilly, with commutation for good behavior, expired and they were returned to the 
Navajo Reservation. In June. 1907, the two-year terms of the other four (Do-yal-ke 
should have been included) — DenetLakai, Cladhy, and Tolghin — allowing for com- 
mutation, expired, and they were accordingly delivered at the agency by the War 
Department. 

For the care and transportation of these prisoners the War Department has submitted 
vouchers in the sum of f2,375.12, and the claims have been forwarded to the Auditor 
for payment. 



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